With poetry, sensuality and exuberance, fashion defies the weather and interprets the times
Louis Vuitton’s surf-inspired maximalism, an aristocrat in search of something for Dior, the delicacy of Dries Van Noten and the subtle balance of Saint Laurent
The Paris heatwave isn’t halting the fashion week currently underway, but it is causing chaos to the schedule. Rick Owens’ apocalyptic show, held outdoors around the fountain at the Palais de Tokyo, is explosive, albeit brought forward by two hours to avoid the midday sun. The audience takes shelter under umbrellas, but the relief is minimal. However physically challenging, the situation intensifies and heightens the experience of the show: a reflection on the threats – unspecified, yet looming – that we all face every day, with some arming themselves, others becoming desensitised, and still others training to cope.
It is this latter group that seems to interest Owens, who in fact collaborates across the board with Adidas – from trainers to a range of tracksuits and puffer jackets featuring an internal ventilation and cooling system, as well as trousers and technical garments. It is, of course, a show in true Owens style: superhuman to the point of the grotesque, expressionistic, unbridled and utterly uncompromising. When the army of models takes to the catwalk for the final walk, the human mass clad in black against the blazing sun leaves a unsettling impression.
Dior presents its collection at nine o’clock in the morning at the Nissim de Camondo Museum, which is currently undergoing renovation. For creative director Jonathan Anderson, the site’s state of flux serves as a metaphor that aptly describes the historic fashion house’s process of redefining its identity. This is his third menswear show, probably the most convincing and certainly the most sophisticated, but it is still not entirely clear what the actual end goal is. A process-driven approach, involving successive trials and errors? That’s all well and good, provided the message is communicated clearly.
The figure of the Dior man, on the other hand, is clearly defined: a young aristocrat torn between tailcoats, jabots, forays into traditional costume and ripped jeans, metallic trousers and the whole paraphernalia of a soft – and perhaps somewhat affected – rebellion. Anderson’s approach is that of a curator: he creates meaning by juxtaposing different elements, without ever providing definitive answers, and it is this very contemporary sense of ambiguity that leaves one perplexed.
Anthony Vaccarello, on the other hand, is a master of conciseness and clarity; at Saint-Laurent, he consistently focuses on a single idea, which he reiterates with intention and determination. This season, he presents a nuanced vision of softness and sensuality, moving away from the sartorial structures and erotic drama of the recent past, whilst maintaining a high level of seduction. Eroticism, a cornerstone of the fashion house, is there, of course, but expressed with subtlety, in a constant interplay between nudity and coverage, between dressing and undressing.
