Collections - Westwood Regional School District / … future of women’s and men’s fashion shows...
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Transcript of Collections - Westwood Regional School District / … future of women’s and men’s fashion shows...
CollectionsFall
2016His and Hers In a collection teeming with grand fabrics, oversize embroideries and
opulent fake furs, Dries Van Noten deftly balanced masculine and feminine, decadence and discipline to rock the runway in seductive style.
For more from Paris, including Inspirations, see pages 6 to 15.
Fashion. Beauty. Business. 3 MARCH 2016
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● The analysis, to be releasedtoday, is expected to raiseissues about the ways thesystem can be improved.
BY LISA LOCKWOOD AND ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
The Council of Fashion Designers of America is expected today to release its study with the Boston Consulting Group into the future of fashion shows.
Sources indicated that a solid recom-mendation won’t necessarily be given but rather, BCG will raise the issues concern-ing the way fashion shows are currently being conducted and what improvements could be made. As reported, the CFDA retained BCG in December to evaluate the future of women’s and men’s fashion shows in New York, and BCG surveyed industry experts to explore a possible shift to shows that are more consum-er-facing and more closely aligned with retail deliveries.
The launch of the study set off a rush this season for designers to introduce show-now, buy-now pieces, or in the cases of Burberry and Tom Ford, shift the way they will do shows come Septem-ber. It also created two firmly opposing camps: New York and London, which seemed to be in favor of more in-season shows, versus Milan and Paris, which are against the idea and are sticking to the current format.
While Diane von Furstenberg, chair-man of the CFDA, and Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue, were said to be pretty clear about the need to inno-vate, participants in the group meetings seemed comfortable sharing their views and concerns, according to one attendee. The powers-that-be have also been “very open to listening,” the source said.
In addition to the estimated 40 meetings that BCG had with individual companies, there was a series of group meetings with a cross-section of design-ers, retailers, editors and influencers. Michael Kors, Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Jenna Lyons of J. Crew, Rag & Bone’s David Neville and Marcus Wainwright, Bergdorf Goodman’s Linda Fargo, Neiman Marcus’ Ken Downing, and Saks Fifth Avenue’s Marc Metrick were among those who voiced their opinions.
“Some were very sure-footed about doing in-season shows because people almost have product fatigue due to the lapse between the shows and deliveries. With the speed of light that we are living in because of the digital age, we are all leaving a lot on the table,” a survey partic-ipant said.
“What I think is good is that we’re talking. What’s been a bit apparent, and it may be due to the American spirit, but the Americans are more prone to hit reset and they’re taking a really intro-spective look at the entire system and the potential of executing change,” said
one participant, who preferred not to be identified. “From all the recent feedback, it’s not looking as though there is as much interest from the other side of the pond.”
Among the issues that have been dis-cussed are:
• Several seemed to be in agreementthat emerging designers and smaller com-panies could not financially afford to lose a season’s worth of production and fabric, should consumer-facing shows be put into effect next season.
• Apparently, there has been a gooddeal of discussion about the anticipated need to embargo images during show-room or salonlike presentations or shows to protect designs that are shown in advance.
• The development of luxury anddesigner product generally requires four to six months to produce and that is not expected to change any time soon.
• The need to take a hard look at thenumber of people invited to showroom presentations that could potentially be held in advance of the season, as another way of trying to protect buzz about yet-to-be-released collections.
• Tweaking delivery schedules so thatshipments are sent closer to season may improve retail.
• The complexity of the prospect ofa designer dealing with two collections simultaneously deserves great attention.
• As manufacturing in China becomesmore costly, observers wondered how the ongoing increase in U.S. production could potentially play into demand for consum-er-oriented fashion shows.
Not surprisingly the general consensus seems to be that some will race to do direct-to-consumer shows and others will hold off. Above all else, further discussion is essential, sources said, adding that the survey will not be a one-and-done situation.
FASHION
CFDA to Unveil Study On Fashion Shows
● The French contemporarybrand has a global objectiveof doubling in size in the nextfive years.
BY JOELLE DIDERICH
Paule Ka hopes its new design direction will set it on a course to double in size within the next five years.
The French contemporary fashion brand’s new creative director Alithia Spu-ri-Zampetti is scheduled to show her first full collection in a presentation format at the Palais de Tokyo on March 7, marking a break with the label’s tradition of hold-ing appointments at its flagship on Rue Saint-Honoré.
Formerly the head designer in charge of women’s ready-to-wear collections at Lan-vin, Spuri-Zampetti was appointed with the mission of reviving the brand, which had been without a designer since the departure of founder and creative director Serge Cajfinger 18 months ago.
Her first designs — in the shape of a capsule collection that launched on Moda Operandi in January and a pre-fall collection last month — revolved around signature house codes such as the bow, Sixties influences and graphic details.
Catherine Vautrin, chairman and chief executive officer of Paule Ka, said the new look and presentation format were part of a wider overhaul that will target growth in the United States, Japan and South Korea this year.
“We have a global objective of doubling in size in the next five years,” she told WWD, noting that Paule Ka has entered a new phase of international expansion since Change Capital Partners bought a 70 percent stake in the firm in 2011.
At present, the brand is available in around 300 points of sale worldwide. This includes 62 stores and shops-in-shop, with 21 freestanding stores in France, the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
“I think the global network has room to grow and probably a target of 500 points
of sale in the medium term is realistic. At the same time, existing points of sale can be galvanized. Sometimes, that involves relocating, and some openings and expansions are planned in the short term, mostly with our partners,” Vautrin added.
She also aims to grow e-commerce, which posted revenues of 1.5 million euros, or $1.7 million at average exchange rates, out of total brand revenues of 45 million euros, or $50 million, in 2015. A revamped version of the Paule Ka Web site is set to be unveiled this month.
Vautrin, previously chairman and ceo of Cerruti, hopes to capitalize on the label’s celebrity following. Customers include Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Patricia Arquette, who wore a graphic black-and-white Paule Ka gown to the Golden Globes.
“Our collections have always had two pillars — urban business chic, and dressy occasionwear going up to formal evening gowns, which are a rapidly growing part of the collection,” the executive noted.
Spuri-Zampetti, a Central Saint Martins alum who has also logged stints at Valen-tino and Bottega Veneta, has been charged with reinforcing the brand’s offer with more versatile fits, such as sweatshirt-style tops that can be worn belted or loose, and an expanded offer of knitwear and evening styles.
The designer is also seeking to energize shoes and bags with a baby pink lining that she hopes will become a brand signature. Vautrin noted accessories currently repre-sent less than 10 percent of sales. “I think we can grow,” she noted.
FASHION
Paule Ka Aims to Fuel Expansion
A look from Alithia Spuri-Zampetti’s capsule collection for Paule Ka.
Oscars: What the Nominees Wore ● What they wore and how allthe nominees fared, plus a fewmore red-carpet notables.
● Maison MargielaRTW Fall 2016
● New York Fashion WeekFall 2016 Street Style
● Jacquemus RTW Fall 2016
● Rochas RTW Fall 2016
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● The executive, president of the brand’s watch and jewelry division, will be replaced by Frédéric Grangié on July 1.
BY ALEX WYNNE Philippe Mougenot, president of Chanel’s watch and jewelry division, is set to leave the brand at the end of June.
After 17 years at Chanel, he wishes to focus on his personal life and prioritize family and personal interests, the firm stated.
Mougenot joined Chanel in 1999 as pres-ident of the watch and jewelry division, and the house credited him as having “carried the watch and jewelry activities to the highest level of excellence.
“In jewelry, Chanel is recognized today as one of the major players on Place Vendôme, notably thanks to the collec-tions created by the Studio, integrated in 2009, and to the high jewelry workshop, created in 2012,” Chanel stated.
In timepieces, meanwhile, Mougenot has confirmed the brand’s watchmaking reputation with successful collections like the J12 launching during his tenure. The executive has overseen the growth of the house’s in-house production capacity, decreasing its dependence on external suppliers.
During this time, the brand has also upped its innovation capacity, introduc-ing original materials. These include an exclusive beige gold, a titanium ceramic compound used in the J12 Chromatic and designs in the Mademoiselle Privé collec-tion featuring gold and silver embroidered dials created by Maison Lesage, which is owned by Chanel.
Chanel has also upped its advertising presence under his management, intro-ducing its first new institutional watch campaign in more than a decade in 2014.
Mougenot will be succeeded by Frédéric Grangié, previously president and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton Japan, who joined Chanel on Feb. 29. The exec-utive will take on the role of president of the watch and jewelry division on July 1, reporting directly to Chanel chairman Alain Wertheimer.
Before joining Chanel, Mougenot was president of Benedom, bought by Bernard Arnault in 1995, before it was merged with jewelry label Fred and integrated into LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Chanel entered fine watchmaking in 1987 with the Première at a time when it was unusual for prestige fashion houses to tap such segments. Its watch and jewelry division was launched in 1993.
BUSINESS
Philippe Mougenot Retires From Chanel
● Executives at the retailer’s annual meeting for the financial community offered a road map for future growth.
BY SHARON EDELSON
Target is a dramatically changed company from a year ago.
So said Brian Cornell, the retailer’s chairman and chief executive officer, at Target‘s annual meeting for the financial community on Wednesday at the Light-house at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. At the 2015 meeting, Cornell was talking about discontinuing Target’s Canadian opera-tions, restructuring its headquarters and re-working its core operations.
Cornell on Wednesday crowed about the company’s positive metrics in the recent fourth quarter and full year 2015. He also outlined future initiatives, including new flexible format store openings and new brands launching in the all-important style category.
“We delivered earnings of $4.69 per share for the year, well above [guidance of $4.45 to $4.65],” Cornell said. “Our digital sales topped 30 percent, shattering holiday records and lapping the industry for the year.” While the digital results outper-formed the industry, they fell short of Target’s goal of 40 percent growth.
Cathy Smith, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the retailer plans to grow comps by 3 percent or more in 2017 and beyond. “We’ll deliver an adjusted EPS growth of 10 percent [in 2017],” she said. “We’re positioned to deliver a total return of well over 10 percent annually. After-tax [return on investment capital] last year was 13.9 percent. If we meet our goals over the next several years, we’ll be on track to deliver one of the high-est after-tax returns in retail. In 2016, we’re
projecting 1.5 to 2.5 percent comp store sales growth.”
Target has engineered new flexible format stores of 10,000 to 50,000 square feet that will open in urban areas, including its first Manhattan unit in TriBeCa; Fulton Street in Brooklyn; Forest Hills, Queens; Washington Square West and Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia; Lincoln Park, Chi-cago, and Malibu and Cupertino, Calif., among others.
“Nine out of the 15 stores we opened last year were flexible formats,” said John Mulligan, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “They have made-to-order assortments for their neighborhoods.” For example, a unit unveiled in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago has exposed brick walls and wooden beams, and sells craft beer, Chicago sports team products and Todd Snyder apparel. The retailer said test stores with personalized products realized a 1 percent to 2 percent sales increase.
“In addition to urban, we see big oppor-tunities near college campuses, where there’s a lack of overall retail options,” Mulligan said. “Our first foray into campus life was near the University of Minnesota. We opened stores near Berkeley, USC, the University of Maryland. This year, we’ll open at Penn State and near several Boston colleges. There’s a huge opportunity of untapped markets that we can reach with these stores.”
LA 25 is a pilot where Target is taking “50 of the top [ideas] we’ve been testing across the country and putting them all into 25 stores in Los Angeles,” Cornell said. “There will be floor-pad reinventions across the store and staff that provides personalized service will be piloted. We’ll take everything we learned from LA 25 and apply it to our designs for our next store prototype.”
Target’s Signature categories of style, baby, kids and wellness represent one-third of sales and grew almost three times faster
than the rest of the assortment. “We’re putting significant resources behind those categories,” Cornell said.
“Today, we introduced two new brands,” Cornell added. “They are going to be bil-lion-dollar brands going forward.”
Pillow fort bowed on Sunday, replacing the existing kids home Circo collection, and is three times bigger. Cat & Jack, a new apparel line for children, will launch in June. “We have the potential to double our kids business in the next three years,” Cornell said.
The retailer on Wednesday revealed a partnership with Marimekko bowing on April 17 online and in stores. The collection will include more than 200 items across product categories based on the bright and cheerful patterns of the Finnish design house, includ-ing swimsuits and beach wear for women and girls, outdoor items and furniture.
C2, Target’s proprietary fitness brand, was retooled and relaunched this month. Half of the assortment was eliminated and changes were made to the remaining 65 percent, and athleisure was added.
“When we’re playing at the top of our game there’s no greater manifestation of our brand promise than our style catego-ries,” Cornell said. “We made big invest-ments to elevate the product and improve presentation in all channels. There will continue to be marked improvements in apparel and home in 2016.”
Beauty has also been elevated. The number of premium products — such as Mizon’s skin care with black snail extract — more than doubled in 2015 and sales rose 75 percent over the previous year.
The retailer will spend $2 billion to $2.5 billion a year on technology and supply chain investments to modernize operations and support flexible fulfillment.
“Are we declaring victory? Not even close,” Cornell said. “We have a lot of work left to do.”
RETAIL
Target Offers Brighter Outlook
Philippe Mougenot
● Company is working on a new Abercrombie concept store prototype.
BY VICKI M. YOUNG
For Abercrombie & Fitch Co. chairman Arthur C. Martinez, the turnaround is still in the very early stages.
Abercrombie on Wednesday gave inves-tors a fourth-quarter surprise with a 30 percent jump in profits, and its first positive comparable-store sales gain since the first-quarter of 2012.
“We’re very pleased with the way Q4 turned out, but there’s still a tremendous amount of work to get these brands to where they belong,” Martinez said.
The company — which operates the core Abercrombie brand, Hollister and abercrombie kids — said net income for the period ended Jan. 30 rose to $57.7 million, or 85 cents a diluted share, on net sales of $1.11 billion. Comps rose 1 percent in the quarter.
According to Martinez, the “tipping point has been reached in many respects with [the consumers’] first engagement with the brand.” The company has initially focused
investment on the digital side to improve site design and ease of use because the “digital engagement has to be the showpiece of the brand going forward,” he said.
About 75 percent of sales still are from brick-and-mortar locations. About a dozen Hollister stores were revamped last year to reflect a new store prototype, a change that Martinez said has resulted in a double-digit lift in traffic and sales performance. “That gives us confidence to roll out our Hollister remodel to at least 60 stores in 2016,” he said.
Work on the core Abercrombie brand has been slower as the company redefined its positioning, from what its voice should be to its target customer, how the design aesthetic should be reflected in the product and in-store elements from layout to fixtures to lighting. Martinez said the company is in the process of identifying a location for the new store concept prototype.
All that should help the company hit its stated goal to have the brand target a slightly older consumer, one who is post-collegiate around the mid-20s and far different from the teens who buy the California lifestyle aesthetic of Hollister.
Logo represents just 13 to 17 percent of the total business, although it’s slightly higher in the international business. In men’s, the bot-toms business has stabilized, even though it still lags behind the women’s business and there is still some challenge in tops. Product for spring will show Aaron Levine’s design aesthetic, which Martinez said is “more colorful and with more different fabrica-tions than before. There is an emphasis on
wovens. Based on the early response, we are in a position to turbocharge the business.” Levine joined the company last summer as head of men’s design at the namesake division.
For women’s, dresses, accessories and sleepwear performed well in the quarter.
The company has included a selection of accessories products from other brands, such as Sam Edelman bags for women and a Jack + Mulligan weekender bag and knapsack for men. The company has also improved its mix of sunglasses and leather wallets on its site, as well as online exclusives such as an Abercrombie branded watch with leather strap for $120. For holiday, the site carried for the first time leather carryall tote options at $300 each, labeled A&F Collection.
According to Martinez, third-party products were included to extend the reach of the site and create some “stickiness” for online customer traffic. “Abercrombie & Fitch is underpenetrated in accessories in both the physical channel and online. We made a concerted effort to include jewelry, scarves and hats and expand the assort-ment. This is a high margin business and there’s no reason why we can’t have a strong competitive presence. Fran [Horowitz] believes this is a big profit-making opportu-nity for us,” Martinez explained.
Horowitz in December was promoted to president and chief merchandising officer, with the cmo spot a newly created role. She now has responsibility for all of the firm’s brands, and was formerly brand president for the Hollister division.
RETAIL
Martinez: A&F Turnaround Still In Early Stages
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Dries Van NotenGender fluidity — hardly a new topic, and one that has long fascinated the creative psyche. George Sand and Oscar Wilde were high-profile sartorial participants back-when. Generations later, Yves Saint Laurent and Helmut Newton made women in men’s clothing provocateurs of high chic. Today, gender is one of life’s many spectra — no rules, no judgments.
It resonates, then, when a collection rooted in good old-fashioned cross-dressing captivates its audience. But as they say, it’s not the inspiration; it’s what you do with it. Dries Van Noten has long been intrigued by the yin-yang balance that makes us interesting as people and, given the right circumstances (said circumstances involv-ing deft application of ingenuity, careful consideration and superior talent) can rock a runway.
For fall, Van Noten rocked it. Under the guise of homage to the Marchesa Casati — artist’s muse in her own time as well as sporadic inspiration to Van Noten’s gener-ation of fashion designers, and one of her numerous paramours, Gabriele d’Annunzio, the writer and collector of fabulous pajamas — the designer struck an elegant, authorita-tive balance between his-and-her dressing for her.
Van Noten was attracted, he said, “by the passion of, on one side, the woman who wants to be a living work of art” — she’d have made one heck of a street-style star — “and on the other side, the poet who wanted to make decadence a lifestyle.”
Van Noten never let his arty decadence run amok. Rather, he controlled it as feverishly as the models’ mannish slicked-down hair, a beauty trope which, combined with their kohl-encircled eyes, evoked a time when expressions of nonconformist sensuality were fraught with danger. The collection conveyed, if not that faded reality, then a stylized interpretation of its implicit tension.
It started with leopard, a favorite of the Marchesa, whose lifespan exceeded her assets. (She was buried in a spotted reminder of her former glory.) Van Noten showed leopard as pants, jackets and overcoats, including a trove of fake furs (nary a real one in sight). The spots came in literal prints, oversize abstractions and as a cutout, embroidered overlay on a skirt and dress. Throughout, the fabrics were grand and the proportions grander, the deca-dence unfolding in the sweep of a robe and volume of a pair of fluid, striped trousers. Sometimes, the volume was best expressed via contrast: A small jacket over a white crested vest and fluid leopard trousers opened the show. The crossover continued with versions of that one-time designator of the leisure life, the crested club blazer with contrast piping.
Still, the Marchesa loved a feminine flourish. A “broken pearl” motif in a purple metallic jacquard and as a sweater embroi-dery referenced her penchant for wearing and destroying endless beaded strands.
Indulgent, yes. But hardly her most excessive wardrobe extra. “She wore live snakes as jewels,” Van Noten said. Surely an overstatement, one he translated into slith-ering embroideries on a dark evening gown. Dangerously seductive. — Bridget Foley
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Maison Margiela“Disparate worlds align in a single silhouette…traditional order is disturbed,” read the notes for the Maison Margiela show John Galliano presented on Wednes-day morning. A premise not new from the designer. The collision and ultimate coexistence of different, often dissonant worlds has long been a hallmark of his craft. He finds beauty in the grand and the lowly, in polished and raw. Part of his particular brilliance lies in his ability to fuse their multiple contents into a compel-ling, kinetic whole.
Since arriving at Margiela, Galliano has shown increased affinity for doing so by the bright light of day. For fall it worked to pow-erful, chic effect. For all its daring, intricate assemblage and, sometimes, weirdness, his lineup offered a trove of beautiful clothes for real life, most plenty inventive but not beyond the sphere of runway-to-reality crossover.
One of Galliano’s big themes here, in fact, he’s carried throughout his career: the subversion of the militaristic with non-se-quitorial elements, whether baroque, arti-sanal or irreverent. A “suit,” if that’s what you’d call it, featured a severely tailored sleeveless jacket cut from olive drab wool as befits the genre, its waist cinched tightly with a wide, demonstrative belt. But it was worn over a puff-sleeved iridescent peplum tunic over a gray striped knit dress with mismatched striped sleeves, half an olive ribbed overskirt and a soupçon of grunge. It looked at first interesting, and only after a moment did one take in the commercial message: Galliano was floating a new, cool approach to the structured jacket for day.
The controlled pilings continued, some complicated, some not. Pleated skirts anchored some of the simpler looks, one worn with a navy cabled sweater, the other a striped polo top and bomber jacket, albeit one bejeweled with giant multicolor stones, but a bomber nonetheless. Playful moments came in a cartoon mouse print on a dress and coat, and in Perspex brooches, three of which Galliano arranged on the back of a jacket in face formation — two eyes and a mouth.
An eerie serenity defined evening in a pair of shimmering, aurora borealis gowns — Lady of Shalott meets Morticia, each at the height of her wiles. They intrigued with irreverent elegance. — Bridget Foley Ph
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Cédric CharlierCédric Charlier wins the dubious prize for Wednesday’s most off-putting soundtrack — a pummeling drone reminis-cent of a foghorn. At least it was apropos of his sleek marine-inspired collection, whose chic managed to drown out the distressing noise.
As hackneyed as the sailor theme might be, Charlier spied some fresh angles, elongating the pea coat and modernizing it with unexpected button placements, for example. Dramatic throat-latches in white or sky-blue heightened the futuristic gloss.
As did twinkling surfaces, for the HMS Charlier clearly houses a disco. Lurex and crystals turned up in middy-collar sweat-ers, on sailor pants and on apron-front pinafores.
Stripes — a signpost for Brittany as loud as any foghorn — came in an exaggerated scale for knit dresses, or etched on faux black leather dresses. There were yet more sexy touches, including clinging turtleneck sweaters with a contrasting, built-in bustier only for the seriously ship-shape. — Miles Socha
CourrègesThe marketing-driven approach that Jacques Bungert and Frédéric Torloting, the former Young & Rubicam executives who bought Courrèges in 2011, have taken to reviving the brand has the industry’s attention. There was major retail and editorial representation at artistic directors Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant’s second runway show, which had the flavor of a mini Apple-product launch. Show notes spoke in the simplistically friendly directives of tech advertisements: “Make it new. Make it warm. Make it practical.” It went on: “If each day technology gives us miracles in our hands, can’t it do anything for our shoulders? Why not imagine smart garments?”
Meyer and Vaillant answered those questions with a series of tailored coats designed with a small battery that can be charged with an iPhone charger. At the press of a button, the shoulders, back and pockets get warm. ICoats, if you will. “We’re going to try to focus on technology even if we’re not in Silicon Valley,” said Vaillant backstage. They’re close to Cuper-tino in strategy if not geography, which isn’t bad positioning for a brand with an image hinged on futurism. Technology is the future, even as its intersection with fashion is still being hashed out.
The same as last season, most of the collection was shown as a procession of single garments — one skirt, jacket, shift or knit bodysuit per model — paired back to a plain black or white ribbed top, except for new suiting, which by definition requires two pieces. The straightforward messaging charmed as it commodified classic Courrèges moto jackets in shiny brights; updates on lacquered shifts made of curved panels that formed a diamond cutout under the bust. The more designed pieces included pants with a trompe l’oeil unbuttoned fly; suits, which followed the retro-ish tailoring protocol Nicolas Ghesquière popularized at Balenciaga; and pop-colored tailored coats intersected with sheer, gridlike lines, a blueprint for folding the coat into a neat square.
Is this the future? Who knows, but quick fix items are definitely the now, as in see-now-buy-now. Meyer and Vaillant’s show notes also promised that a third of the collection would be available immediately. The copy read like a script for a commer-cial voiceover: “We aren’t talking about ready-to-wear, but ready-to-live.” — J.I.
RochasWhere did this season’s collective fascination with velvet come from? It’s been everywhere, city after city, an age-old signal of the romantic, the regal, the opulently louche looking fresh again. So it was at Rochas, where Alessandro Dell’Acqua doubled down on his velvet game, embroidering black jackets and skirts in tender winter garden florals and cutting a pair of swanky trousers in macramé bottle green. The return was a beautiful collection.
“Velvet is the new trend, maybe,” Dell’Acqua said backstage. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s been a long time since there was velvet in the collections.” His treat-ments were rich yet delicate, all improbably lightweight despite their depth and texture. They brought a moody dreaminess to the collection, which Dell’Acqua emphasized by making a major fabric and color story out of simplified magpie silhouettes.
Gentle, quirky glamour-pusses came in tie-neck blouses worn under mannish coats, and austere, long-sleeved dresses in lightweight gold brocade or trimmed with messy swirls of ruffles and worn with long trailing neck scarves. Dell’Acqua put together strangely appealing combinations of the sour colors and brights — emerald green and red; tea-stained nude, candy pink and digital blue — working them on slouchy socks worn with chunky heeled, exaggerated platform sandals to amplify the collection’s eclectic nostalgia. It’s tempting to cite the widespread influence of the new Gucci, but Dell’Acqua was pursuing the nerdy fashion enchantress long before Alessandro Michele got to the party. Rather than move left when the collective shifts right in his direction, Dell’Acqua held his ground with stylish grace. — Jessica Iredale
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KochéThe scene at the Koché show was the mother of all mash-ups. Fashion editors stood shoulder-to-shoulder with local residents in a covered passageway in central Paris known for its ethnic restaurants and barber shops offering 7-euro haircuts. In the back of the crowd,a bearded slacker smoked a joint.
It was a fitting setup for a brand known for blending streetwear with couture craftsmanship, and indeed, the atmosphere was electric. The models — a mix of friends of designer Christelle Kocher and professionals like Soo Joo Park — exuded a mix of girl-next-door approachability and cooler-than-thou attitude.
To a throbbing soundtrack, they flew by at warp speed in the label’s signature high-low combinations: Bouffant-sleeve silk blouses encrusted with patches of lace; shredded sweaters and dresses dense with surface decoration and baggy jeans with patchwork tops, many incorporating blown-up photos of motocross riders.
While the pace of the display gave it a sense of urgency, it did nothing to spotlight the extraordinary craftsmanship that went into the outfits.
Kocher tapped Maison Lemarié, the Chanel-owned specialty atelier where she has been artistic director since 2010, for outfits including a sequined vest top trimmed with ostrich feathers and paired with extra-large jogging pants.
Lesage, another house in the Chanel stable, was behind the 3-D embroidery on a mesh turtleneck, worn with black velvet and jersey track pants. “This is my nod to Marlene Dietrich,” Kocher said in the back-stage area, a neighboring photo studio.
“Rather than having a single theme running through the collection, I wanted the outfits to be like characters to highlight the individuality of each girl,” she added. Mission accomplished: The show had a raw energy that left its audience stoked. Here’s hoping there’s a resee. — Joelle Diderich
Yang LiDirecting his controlled deconstruction and raw cuts at classic English tailoring felt like a new, fresh outlet for Yang Li. His show opened strong with a brown hound-stooth jacket, cut short but oversize in the sleeves and shoulder, with a fur collar over a miniskirt with the seams finished on the outside. Worn over a classic white turtleneck, it had a vaguely equestrian Sixties attitude, echoed in the curved sleeves, side zip and collar that fell in raw folds of a burgundy plaid jacket paired with toughened Chelsea boots. The mood brightened and progressed to the Eighties with a hot pink microplaid tailored coat cut big over black skinnies, and a great shrunken pink jacket with delib-erately crude seams worn over high-waist wide trousers cinched with a trench belt.
Things took on a more melancholy street tone as Li ramped up the deconstruction and reconstruction with patchwork blazers, moody velvets and oversize bombers and parkas worn with plain, stripped tailored pieces. —
Y/ProjectDistorted proportions and gender-bend-ing silhouettes ruled the runway at Glenn Martens’ spirited show for Y/Project. The Belgian designer mixed various periods and subcultures, attaching, for instance, 17th-century virago sleeves to hooded sweatshirts, yielding pieces “that challenge
classification,” he asserted.Indeed, it was difficult to put a
name on the wide, drop-crotch pants with a built-in corset that had
a sailor sweater tucked into it. But then, why bother? “We are about proposing fun clothes,” was Mar-tens’ retort in his show notes.
If some pieces looked famil-iar — including monster bombers with zippers meandering all over, and oversize chaps in denim or leather that segued directly from Y/Project’s men’s runway in January — they were to accentuate the brand’s unisex leanings. Amid the period references and bold mixes were some contemporary and luxurious options, including a rounded blou-
son which looked as if it had been entirely sewn from strips of shearling.
— Paulina Szmydke
Guy LarocheAdam Andrascik is taking a stand against the streetwear spirit that’s populating the Paris catwalks. His fall collection for Guy Laroche was an ode to old-school tailor-ing, inspired by the founder’s approach to volume: Think peplums, sack skirts and sculptural sleeves.
“I felt that in the past couple of seasons in fashion in general, maybe even more in Paris, there is this idea about layering that seemed to be pushing to the forefront, and I really wanted to try and build a silhouette this season that you didn’t need 15 gar-ments to do,” the designer said backstage.
“I want it to be more striking and more direct and more distinct,” he added.
To that end, Andrascik stuck to a palette of black, cream and gray, sprinkling in hand-painted copper motifs and bead embroideries inspired by Flemish Prim-itive painters. He worked a high-waisted silhouette, with peplums that darted out at rib-level and double-layered skirts with elasticated waists and hems.
Though there were some interesting ideas in the mix, it was hard to imagine who would wear these formal creations, and even harder to square them with the kind of streetwise looks that Andrascik used to produce for his now-defunct London label. A cropped version of the aviator jacket, with statement bouffant sleeves, hinted at the direction he should be developing at Laroche. — J.D.
Wanda NylonIn her second runway show for Wanda Nylon, designer Johanna Senyk struck an underground vibe by rendering streetwear staples in her signature waterproof fabrics.
The designer used her favorite materials, including translucent PVC for jeans-style jackets and dunga-rees, and glossy vinyl in bright red for boxy coats and thigh boots. The oversize silhouettes and pre-sentation seem to take their cues from the hippest of the Parisian labels: Vetements.
Senik also borrowed from a famous Japanese motorcycle brand to craft a logo signed with Wanda and printed it on white baggy T-shirts, black hoodies and beanie hats. She also used a stretch Lurex fabric for total looks in bright purple or yellow and elongated her
black varsity jackets and coats to sweep the floor. As cool as some of the clothes were, they had that sense of déjà vu. — Laurent Folcher
Koché
Yang Li
Y/Project
Wanda Nylon
Guy Laroche
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CollectionsFall
2016
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“Freedom and restriction.”Esteban Cortázar
“The collection is an ode to originality and empowered women, it is inspired by bringing together surrealism and functionalism.”Anna Teurnell, Marimekko
“Le Siècle des Lumières, a
philosophical movement
that dominated the world
of ideas in Europe in the 18th century.”
Marie-Christine
Statz, Gauchère
“Une femme la nuit en gris. A woman at night in gray.”Guillaume Henry, Nina Ricci
“La démode, c’est faire la mode avec sa tête pour son corps. La démode, is to do fashion with the brain for the body. It is to find your personal line, your path, your imprint.”Sonia Rykiel
“Together, we shall overcome.”
Julien David
“Starry nights.” Vanessa Seward
“For fall, our girl invokes
the spirit of Anita
Pallenberg, part British rock ‘n’ roll,
part Victorian romantic.”
Rachel Wilder-Hill,
Joie
Designer Inspirations
Designers share the motivations behind their collections for fall, as they prepare to present in the French capital.Compiled by LAURENT FOLCHER
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by R
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La
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; H&
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“Heaven or Las Vegas.”Anne Sofie Madsen
“Military romance.”Bill Gaytten,
John Galliano
“Cosmos.”Yoshiyuki Miyamae, Issey Miyake
“La reconstruction.”Simon Porte Jacquemus, Jacquemus
“Hellsinki.”Tuomas Merikoski,
Aalto
“Transformism”Rick Owens
“Each x Other’s fall runway show is about love for culture — art, theater, dance, music and writing — and the idea of how, through education, we can pass on these arts to future generations.” Each x Other
“H&M is about our love of fashion, and is at the heart of everything we do. For the H&M studio for fall, we want to show the strength in women and capture the true beauty of independent minds.” Ann-Sofie Johansson
“Piped shoulder details.”
Adam Andrascik, Guy Laroche “Noise.”
Kunihiko Morinaga, Anrealage
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“The collection references the simple femininity of the Nineties woman while inspired by the romantic and warm universe of Sarah Moon and Paolo Roversi from the Seventies.”Cacharel
“Faded forms.”Samuel Drira, Nehera
“Hell’s Belles.”Manish Arora
“I had a flashback of something that never existed.” Louise Bourgeois, Johanna Senyk, Wanda Nylon
“Uncontrolled movements…”Esther Dorhout Mees, Dorhout Mees
“Red molten sequins, the Blue Danube, the Viennese opera ball and tails…”Johnny Talbot and Adrian Runhof, Talbot Runhof
A verse from the poet Hafiz:
“How did the rose ever open its heart
and give to this world all of its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light against
its being,Otherwise we all
remain too frightened.”Rahul Mishra
“A game of modesty, the contrast
between old and new, the boom of a soundtrack, a light
bulb, the delicate exercise of the feminine form.”
Kym Ellery, Ellery
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Kat
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Art
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Ond
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akan
“This season, I am exploring the surreality
of our eyes and how light can
bend our beliefs. Seeing is not
believing.”Iris Van Herpen
“For fall, Longchamp
adds a sensual and feminine
touch to its urban
aesthetic by blending
warm animal prints and
rich tones for a luxurious
autumnal palette.”
Longchamp
“Koché on fire.”Christelle Kocher, Koché
“Heritage sketches 1932.”Goga Ashkenazi, Vionnet
“Exploring the art world and the style with some
of my favorite English eccentrics.”
Olympia Le-Tan
“A winter collection fired with telluric powers, filled with energy from lands bathed by sunbeams, radiant landscapes, flights of fancy.” David Koma, Mugler
“Mod sharpness, rock irreverence, edgy
sophistication.”Redemption
“Back from Katmandou.”Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud
“For me, life is a catwalk from seasons, from a girl to another one with love.”Alexis Mabille
