The tension bubbling up around fashion shows resembles the call for anti-fashion, for something to eradicate a well-preserved, self-absorbed ecosystem as the one of fashion
Paris Fashion Week. Womenswear FW 23/24
The Parisian fashion week coronates the runway season and lures us into a moment of reflection. A lot has changed in fashion during the past year. If menswear ventured into clean glamor endeavors, where we didn’t witness as much experimentation, couture shows evoked memorable presentations, the sorts of Haider Ackermann for Jean Paul Gaultier, which has brought back the aura of mastery. Among others, we assisted the phenomenon of cult and celebrity designers stepping down from their status, with brands being encouraged to find a voice of their own.
Alessandro Michele left Gucci, and Raf Simons decided to close his brand. Demna disappeared in the gulp of accusations over a misleading campaign leaving no trace of accountability. It almost seems we’re shifting from the thirst for self-expression to the need for human expression. The tension bubbling up around fashion shows, as something’s about to change, resembles the call for anti-fashion, for something to eradicate a well-preserved, self-absorbed ecosystem as the one of fashion.
Starting on February 27 until the 7th of March, the Paris Fall Winter 23/24 Womenswear calendar opens with the creations iterated by Institut Français de la Mode students and closes with Avellano, a rising french brand toying with leather and its connotations. Some of the cult french favorites like Jacquemus or Celine by Hedi Slimane rest unseen, exhibiting their shows outside the official calendar. Maybe this can lead to more space for emerging voices glaring mindful materials (Niccolò Pasqualetti), and fabric technology (Anrealage). Another attention-worthy spot reserved for Shang Xia – the Hermes-owned Chinese brand – focuses on cultural representation in a blend between heritage and optimistic progression.
Social media, climate change and human relationships: Paris Fashion Fall Winter 23/24 Womenswear
Social media, the fashion spectator democratization, cancel culture. Designers perform under a heavy, omnipresent sight. The public’s gaze gained an unregulated impact. After Coperni’s viral moment and the debates over Schiaparelli’s couture show, digital culture has never been more present in the dialogue between fashion and its viewers.
Designers like Nicolas Di Felice for Courrèges already plan on focusing on the social observation that brings the human relationship with modern tools to the fore. His pre-fall 23 collection depicts the models holding and looking at smartphones, while the designs aim to evoke a hunched back silhouette through a forward tilt of the shoulder line. For the Paris fall winter line Di Felice confesses to channeling another component to the screenplay in human life and behaviors. He wants to approach modern surveillance and the need for subverting it. «There are people who think about it, and maybe want to resist it, and this is more the subcultural, punk vibe», Di Felice explained in an interview.
Expectations roar with excitement for the Balenciaga show. Demna’s dystopian universes have been a mirror to contemporary urges, from climate change to apocalyptic post-human representations. The Parisian womenswear show might transform his carriage into a pumpkin. It represents the opportunity to speak the truth about the artistic intentions Demna envelopes in his presentations.
Ludovic de Ludovic de Saint Sernin for Ann Demeulemeester
Beyond the presence of much-expected collections from Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, or Valentino, 23/24 Paris fashion week looks like a celebration of premieres with Martin Glen’s Y/Project first runway dedicated to womenswear, Pierre Cardin’s return after one hundred years and Schiaparelli stepping aside from digital presentations.
One of the most awaited moments is Ludovic Ludovic de Saint Sernin debut at Ann Demeulemeester, on the 4th of March. It can either become the core of anti-fashion revival or penetrate with glamor inclined assembles. Even though lengthy divergent in the background, the two creatives seem to share the same intent of humanizing gender roles. Ann Demeulemeester revolutionized feminine womenswear in the 80′ through her Patty Smith-inspired styling and use of (non) color, while Ludovic deLudovic de Saint Sernin crafts a free perception over men’s nightwear with glittery elements and unshameful designs.
They both exemplify the same ease of self-portrayal once materialized in proto-punk and burlesque, but with a more subtle gaze on shapes and structures that can make the body feel untangled. It is about a shared understanding of gender code ambiguity in clothing and the pursuit of normalizing silhouette exchanges. Both borrow intimate elements and effectively appropriate their use to the opposing gender.
The Antwerp Six and Queen Ann
Conveying the comfort in arousal, Ludovic deLudovic de Saint Sernin started his eponymous label in 2017 after working for Balmain and was appointed the creative director at the helm of Ann Demeulemeester at the end of last year. Part of the renowned ‘Antwerp Six’, the Belgian designer resigned from her brand in 2013, abandoning the fashion house and her ‘Queen Ann’ title in the industry.
However, the mix between the two can achieve surprisingly powerful inspiration for rising tribes that look to fit and be represented on the fashion scene. It is about emulating the fascination with people’s storytelling the two creatives envision. Ann Demeulemeester began from portrait drawings, and Ludovic Ludovic de Saint Sernin Takes inspiration from Robert Mapplethorpe, the poignant portraiture photographer. We might witness the moment when storytelling becomes punk.
Questioning fashion legacies and the space for new subcultures – Vivienne Westwood
The upcoming fashion week will offer an overview of what’s left of fashion legacies. The first Vivienne Westwood and Paco Rabanne show following the unfortunate loss of their creators will honor long-lasting innovations and well-built communities. Their impact on fashionable self-representation remains as effective as can be, with actively protestant punk rising from Westwood’s dizzy deconstructions and Rabanne’s tribal futurism introducing bold metal and plastic to eroticize space escapes.
Even if their labels evolved, syncing with the times, the creations remain loyal to a fault. Maybe it’s time for a more gentle expression that can follow their work through a hypnotizing introspective. It still dawns upon the fashion cosmos that subcultures don’t linger long enough to galvanize a change. Vivienne Westwood was a woman creating for women that felt different. Punk was about etiquette refusal, about denying the outsider’s gaze. It was eventually about loud sexualization, not aimed at anybody but oneself. WGSN, the trend forecasting agency, predicts the same idea of unsexiness that might lead to community and emotion-focused artifice with a decisive denial of cosmetic isation and beautification.
Hermès by Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, Victoria Beckham, and Chloé by Gabriela Hearst creations resonate with a more practical mindset. In their previous collections, the designers navigate a representation of femininity in the everyday woman case, where lifestyle is bound to juggling multifaceted activities and attitudes.
Miu Miu and progressing styles, the new streetwear
Miuccia Prada’s latest Miu Miu shows altered how we want to dress, with short cut skirts and cropped sweaters on every store shelf and major fashion editorial. With Miu Miu, Prada captures the thirst for youthful subcultures, even if they last one season. Presenting the collection during Paris Fashion week is part of the strategy, stealing attention from the monumental Prada catwalk in Milan. While the latest remains an ode to timelessness and awkward beauty, Miu Miu reinforces the idea of ever-changing desires, cultivating a portrait of progressing styles. It markets the juxtaposition between nostalgia and experimentation.
Besides A.W.A.K.E. MODE, Ottolinger, or Off-White, Miu Miu is the place to be if you want to pick up on street style inspiration and trend anticipations. The same energy transpires with Lowe shows, where accessories make the first page as future IT items. As he does with J.W. Anderson, the Irish designer mingling the two labels has fun curating unexpected space decor and subtly ironic references.
For a breath of fresh air and eye-comforting appearances, independent labels such as Acne Studios, The Row, Dries Van Noten, and Sacai are the go-to performances. Despite their ongoing history on Parisian catwalks, they still appear as a sort of fashion underdogs with a precise niche and dedicated audience. If the future leans on disrupting overconsumption and over-extroversion, they might just rise in the spotlight without even trying.
Christian Dior, Saint Laurent, and Hubert de Givenchy – Visibly decentralized systems
The Parisian fashion week holds over 50 years of fashion shows history. That can only instigate upon reflection. What meaning does french fashion week still uphold? The first official french fashion show contributed to delineating the haute couture pillars. Gaining unmatched visibility after the Battle of Versailles in 1973, Parisian runways promoted French designers while protecting their creations against plagiarism by chaining them to the public eye.
Christian Dior, Saint Laurent, and Hubert de Givenchy, the same names to fortify the french fashion supremacy, have turned their allure and excitement into status. Under the guidance of Italian creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Anthony Vaccarello, on one hand, and the British Matthew Williams, the rules in fashion have changed. National legacy lives through archives and well-impregnated collective memory. Through a more pragmatic lens, it lives through luxury conglomerates – LVMH and Kering.
Balmain, Chanel, Lanvin – capitalizing on familiarity and history
Surely few go to Paris fashion week purely to discover french creatives, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of prejudice. Loyal to provocative opulence, Olivier Rousteing delivers dream-like pieces for Balmain with a shameless aristocratic poise mixed with grotesque abundance. At Lanvin, we assist the baby steps following a branding reset guided by Bruno Sialelli. The French creative director of the brand since 2019 has fun with tailoring, alternating feminine and masculine designs enveloped by the seriousness of shapes and the effervescence of prints and colors.
Chanel by Virginie Viard still sails upon old costumes and patterns, while Louis Vuitton, under the helm of Nicolas Ghesquière, became the safest space for jazzy improvisations. They both capture the essence of powerful maisons capitalizing on familiarity and history. There’s nothing wrong in asking if today that’s enough for garments to feel exciting or inspiring.
