Nicholas Ghesquière has been experimenting with the codes of the 1980s for the last few seasons. In his Louis Vuitton case, nostalgia is lethal (especially to ready-to-wear). Once, this designer captured the zeitgeist like no else. Today, he’s stuck in a bizarre, sentimental limbo. His runway ideas are scattered and dispersed, often left unresolved. The dresses look cumbersome and unflattering. The accessories – old-fashioned. Unlike at Saint Laurent, the colors (and prints) are just eye-scratching. I truly doubt anyone wants to dress like this. And we’re talking about Louis Vuitton, for god’s sake!
What strikes me is if an emerging designer – or a female designer – ever presented a collection like this, they would be roasted by everyone, from the critics to the leading voices of social media. Well, I guess the LV invitation has its power – and is worth staying silent for.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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Anthony Vaccarello didn’t open Paris Fashion Week, because he was at the Oscars with the cast of “Emilia Perez”. So this time he closed the week with a Saint Laurent outing that certainly made an impression. I’m still on fence if it’s a good or bad one. His collection was all about the 1980s – and utterly surprised with its chic conservatism. Pretty much no flesh in sight. No skimpy silhouettes. No sheer business. Instead, very boxy dresses, gargantuan coats, and ball dresses (styled with leather blousons). It’s refreshing to see Vaccarello getting disciplined in terms of construction and trying out the unexpected – especially in terms of color palette, this season so exuberant and livid. But there was something certainly unsettling about the YSL woman being so obscured in her high-necks and XXL pads.
Just like Nicole Kidman’s character in Babygirl, the woman envisioned by Vaccarello feels trapped in the world she’s built. She wants to break free and explore herself, but something’s holding her back. Her husband? Family life? Career?
Nevertheless, it’s exciting to see Anthony provoke one’s mind with a collection that isn’t obvious (and definitely not easy to copy for the high-street brands).
The Paris shows either offered a new, radical take on mundane realism (the “give us nothing” energy) or a walk down the nostalgia lane. The 1980s are everywhere you look, from the shoulders to the brisky patterns and colors. But this season the presence of the 1980s aren’t giving the confidence of a “power look” – but rather, the crippling feeling of recession, stock market crash and melancholia.
Some designers know what to do with the past and are capable of communicating something about the contemporary times with all that vintage affection. Alessandro Michele is one of them. He believes that in order to understand the present and have an idea of the future, you must know the past. His sophomore Valentino collection might look clunky and unedited at first, but when you a look at it again, you see how telling it is about what’s the state of fashion is in 2025. Overstimulation. Oversaturation. Overpoweredness. Michele’s models of all ages walked to the tune of Lana Del Rey’s “Gods & Monsters” in their embellished dresses, so-tacky-it’s-good satins and genderless lace, certainly not knowing where they are headed to. The vibe was kind of apocalyptic, but since we’re still alive, why not be all glammed up? One of the closing looks – a stuffy, fur-trimmed cardigan worn over a black velvet dress and styled with pony-hair boots tied with a bow – looked so odd and so out of place you just can’t help but feel… intrigued.
While doing market research in Paris I also noticed how high quality Michele’s Valentino really is. These clothes are done with such care and precision that they will look as good as now in 20, 30 years. Just like vintage that we love and wear today, being decades old. The quality of clothes used to be better in the past, and Michele learns a lesson from that. The designer’s autumn-winter 2025 collection stuns with craftsmanship too – even if it’s sometimes so layered up you can barely see it.
Miu Miu was delicious. Delightful! This season, Miuccia Prada mused about the accessories of femininity – bras, furs, brooches. Are they relevant today? Do they lift up? At her reductionist Prada collection, she seemed to turn her back to anything superfluous. But at Miu Miu, the frivolous, younger sister, she seemed to fully indulge in all the “feminine” ornaments that in the end of the day bring utmost pleasure. With a cast consisting of Sarah Paulson and Lou Doillon, and Lotta Volkova’s phenomenal styling, the collection remixed different decades that shaped what’s affiliated as feminine today. 1920s flapper silhouettes accented with very-retro caps. 1950s knee length satin lingerie dresses (with the bra peaking out!). 1980s uptown power-looks, smoothed around the edges and completed with Deeda Blair’s hairstyle. It might sound like a lot, but the overall effect was absolutely Miu Miu. And it reminded us that fashion can be truly, truly fun to play around with.
“Give us nothing” energy was delivered by Demna at Balenciaga. Unlike at Prada and The Row, here, the effect was absolutely depressing. I get that the Parisian crowds might find the radical mediocrity of purposely badly-cut men’s suits and shirts amusing, but for a person living in Poland, this is very triggering to see. It’s literally what you get on the streets during Women’s Day when all the guys buy their girls that one little rose, once in a year. Demna even had this infamous, sad-macho “archetype” in the show. Another nightmare: the ridiculously bad duvet jackets that you can get at any East-European bazaar. They were here, too, in different unflattering lengths. Don’t get me started with the tight polo shirts and the Puma collab. I get the irony and I’ve always enjoyed Demna’s mind – and sense of humor. But something is certainly off about his latest runway collections – and this one screamed “crisis”.
Collage by Edward Kanarecki. Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!
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