In the uppermost echelons of high fashion, pure fantasy and ultra-refined modernity went head to head, says Emma McCarthy
WHAT IS ‘LUXURY’ in 2024? Where fashion is concerned, this is the role of haute couture to define – a world of one-of-a-kind, made-to -measure, red carpet-worthy creations boasting six-figure price tags, countless hours of skilled labour and a client base consisting of the less-than-1%. While it may be a commodity mere mortals could never dream of possessing , the Couture Week showcase staged in Paris last month was more than just a spectacle for the super-rich to compile their new season shopping lists like we might our groceries. It provides a platform for which budget is no limit to a designer’s ambition or imagination. It also ser ves as a cultural commentar y at its highest level – the source from which ideas flow down into ready-to -wear catwalks and, in turn, trickle into trends on the high street.
This season, the couture collections were divided into polar opposite sides: realism or reverie. Modern, understated and ultra-refined versus dramatic, theatrical and shockingly defiant; both equally exquisite in their execution and ability to set the agenda.
The most talked about show – Maison Margiela – belonged to the latter genre. In a crescendo showcase, staged beneath the Pont Alexandre III bridge, designer John Galliano’s idiosyncratic vision played out on a cast of characters – including Gwendoline Christie – who crawled out from the seedy underbelly of a 1930s Paris night. Rib-crunching corsets, flashes of pubic hair on merkins under sheer dresses and outer wear as if made from tattered, weather-ravaged corrugated cardboard were among the sublimely surrealist additions to a showcase that introduced more than 15 new artisanal techniques, many over a year in the making. It was, as they say, ‘A Moment’ set to go down in fashion history, leaving those in its wake awestruck at the immersion, emotion and extraordinar y experimentation.
Other moments of genius came courtesy of Jean Paul Gaultier – an avant-garde provocateur best known for Madonna’s infamous cone bra and the nickname ‘l’enfant terrible’. He retired in 2020, following a career spanning five decades, but has retained his ability to shake up the schedule by inviting a revolving door of special guest designers to take the reins of his long-established atelier. This season was the turn of London Fashion Week darling Simone Rocha, who brought her brand of subversive girlishness to the Paris catwalk, transforming JPG’s iconic Breton tops with balletic silk ribbons and twisting his conical bras into spikes resembling the thorns of a rose.
Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberr y
