Ruched & Twisted. Y/Project AW23

March 9, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

The ruched and twisted shapes, the sculptural pieces draped from wire – with the latest Y/Project collection, Glenn Martens revisits his greatest hits. “The whole idea of this brand is to reinvent techniques, construction, and to experiment as much as possible. That’s what we like to do,” he said backstage. Though the where-do-the-jeans-end-and-the-boots-begin question is sure to keep construction obsessives guessing, this collection was less oriented around pushing new shapes than it was in pumping up the surface interest of the clothes. Maybe because he is so well-versed in denim now at Diesel, it was the major leitmotif in this show. There were baggy jeans that buttoned up on themselves and boxy jean jackets, and even a faded denim caftan, but the real marvel was how Martens cut the material into thin biomorphic shapes, shredded it, and used it as embroidery – on everything from wool coats to clingy body-con dresses. A pair of tulle evening gowns, one in blush pink and the other in ivory, were also embellished with the denim shapes. They were the most delicate pieces ever to walk down a Y/Project runway.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

The Scent of Camellia. Chanel AW23

March 9, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

At Chanel, Virginie Viard did her usual thing: a spontaneous, instinctual take on the Chanel wardrobe. For autumn-winter 2023 season, it was sprinkled with silk, white camellias – the brand’s famous signifiers. Viard had even organized a giant symbolic white camellia as a set, and had a real one placed on every guest’s seat. “The camellia is more than a theme, it’s an eternal code of the house,” she said in her press release. “I find it reassuring and familiar, I like its softness and its strength.” A taste for propagating a contemporary realness around Chanel’s enviable Frenchness is more Viard’s thing. Like so many others this season, she opened with variations on black, white and gray. From the minutest of embroideries to the button-shapes to the big, fuzzy angora pattern on a sweater, and swinging on multiple chain-bags, the aforementioned flowers were absolutely everywhere. The formalities of the Chanel canon are constantly open to reinterpretation, as Karl Lagerfeld supremely taught. While staying within the guardrails of Chanel’s femininity and decorativeness, his former first assistant and successor has added her own dash of quirkiness to the mix – not always with success. Viard didn’t make a big play for evening—the finale was of camellia-print silk dresses, layered over sweaters and longjohns. This was more a depiction of what Parisian style might mean as worn by women on the street. It was good to see Viard extending her sense of reality to including mid-size models in that.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Perversely Chic. Miu Miu AW23

March 8, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Miu Miu shut down Paris Fashion Week with a bang. Or even the entire season! This was a remarkable collection that felt desirable and intriguing, sexy and perversely chic, absolutely timeless and completely relevant. Miuccia Prada (with Lotta Volkova’s brilliant styling support) satisfied all the possible needs of a Miu Miu girl-slash-woman. The show was opened by the modern-day indie-film leading-actress Mia Goth, who wore a prim grey cardigan and polka-dot-printed skirt, all ladylike in kitten-heel sling-backs and a matching handbag draped over her arm. Her hair was kind of messy, and her tights were pulled up over her top. That’s the look that will define this season in fashion. To a frantic jazz soundtrack, other models wore ensembles that had a sense of spontaneous, impulsive layering and romantic urgency. Prada wrapped an infectious sentiment of youth into a Miu Miu collection that read like the ultimate shopping list for the autumn 2023 wardrobe. Emma Corrin’s finale look – a beige turtleneck and heavily embellished, gold panties – represented the candid, youthful, independent persona Miuccia Prada is creating for. The message was reinforced by the genderless philosophy Prada has been introducing at Miu Miu by way of male casting. With its ironic sense of humor, the Miu Miu collection uplifted its audience, because it cut a contrast to a season that’s reflected a less uplifting reality. With that in mind, the reduced Miu Miu silhouette and quiet colors also evoked a wartime sensibility. “A little serious,” Prada said. “I like to embrace that in this moment. Maybe I’m too careful about what’s happening around us, but I can’t leave fashion like some place of nonsense. There’s some excitement and sexiness there,” she paused. “But basically, I think we have to dress for thinking. And for starting fresh.” Oui, oui, oui!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

About Paris(ian Style). Louis Vuitton AW23

March 8, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Finally, a Louis Vuitton collection by Nicolas Ghesquière that doesn’t look like a cartoon. The concept for the autumn-winter 2023 collection came to Ghesquière after returning home from traveling last year, when the world was finally opening up again. “What is French style?” he said. “It’s an ambitious question, but being at Vuitton you have a certain responsibility because the name of the brand is so strong in the world.” His idea, he explained, was to ask the young designers in his studio for their takes on the subject. “Since they’re so international, I was curious to know what would they think.” Unsurprisingly, they all came back with “very different things”, which isn’t necessarily what all the ridiculous handbooks on Parisian style dictate. According to this offering, Frenchness in fashion is the Tricolore, which the studio reproduced on a blue, white, and red quilted shoulder bag, and leather gloves. It’s the Opéra Garnier, which inspired the light-up Phantom of the Opera masks. And it’s the Cinq à Sept, which is a local colloquialism for an affair, that was alluded to here with a series of sumptuous dressing gowns, pajama tops, and plush faux fur shorts. This was a collection that was in touch with the street, with a few nods to the designer’s sci-fi obsession, softer and more down-to-earth. A close-up look at the clothes revealed intriguing details: the camel coat in look 14 may appear to be wool, but it’s actually leather, first embossed, then printed. The jewellery was inspired by musical instruments (the trumpet brooches are too good!). Also very desirable: a finely embroidered slip dress worn with a chunky hand-knit scarf thrown over the shoulder and boots. Asked if he came to a conclusion about French style, Ghesquière shook his head. “No. Every season we try to answer that question, but without saying it. This season the difference is we own it. But French style belongs to everyone.”

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Horse Girl. Stella McCartney AW23

March 8, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Stella McCartney‘s autumn-winter 2023 collection was all about her long-time obsession and passion for horses. Judging from the models’ calmness in the runway pictures, it’s hard to believe that seven un-haltered white Camargue horses were running around the sand-strewn arena immediately to the left of the runway. They were joined by the horse whisperer Jean-François Pignon, who gently encouraged them to rear, run in circles and roll around in the sand. “There’s so much leather and feather and fur on the runway, especially in winter, and I just wanted to show that you can do it in a different way. You don’t have to kill anything,” Stella McCartney said after the show. She nailed it. McCartney is vegan, but also someone who believes in harmonious relationships between humans and animals. Her mother Linda bred Appaloosa horses, and to this day, the designer still rides. She has a horse named Summer and keeps dogs, too. Her collection was an exercise in claiming and re-appropriating the codes of the British equestrian wardrobes associated with hunting and the warhorses of the Great War, and all the things McCartney doesn’t believe in. “It’s beautiful: the tailoring, the bespoke work. As someone who studied that for many years, you can’t get away from it,” she said, reflecting on those uniforms. “The relationship between the man and the woman and the horse and nature, it’s this kind of pull-and-push, and I think there’s a poetry at the center of it all.” McCartney applied her equestrian grammar to the Y2K language of her own fashion history – the Chloé era! – which she first re-introduced last season. The fusion materialized in skimpy hussar jackets, little cropped vests, deconstructed denim suits from another equestrian culture, and low-riding trousers that infused draped hip chains with fresh tack associations. Those memories continued in dresses and knitwear that revived the horse print from her spring/summer 2001 collection for Chloé, albeit in a blurry evocation. McCartney’s ongoing rekindling with her own archives from her tenure at the house is timely – it’s what the kids want (her daughter is the best example) but it’s clearly also invigorating the designer in new ways. Everything suddenly feels a little bit more impassioned in the house of Stella.