FactualFirst fashion shows for the fall-winter 2021-2022 haute couture collections: at the Rodin Museum for Dior and its Boucle tweed capes and skirts embroidered with feathers. At the Palais Galliera for Chanel with her vaporous petticoats stitched with camellias and a white satin dress punctuated with black bows.
In the small world of haute couture, the world after looks strangely like the world before. The ballet of black sedans dropping off guests at the entrance to the parades has resumed, American fashion editors are back in the French capital, Anna Wintour in the lead, and the flashes of photographers tracking the most beautiful figures crackle again.
As if the last sixteen months were just a distant memory? Not quite. The guests are all masked, and their number has greatly diminished. In Dior, there were 270 guests against more than double in normal times. The house, led by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, presented its fall-winter 2021-2022 haute couture collection on Monday, July 5, in the gardens of the Rodin Museum, as usual.
Regularly highlighting female artists, the designer has teamed up this season with Eva Jospin, French visual artist, to imagine the decor. Called “A Silk Room”, the latter is displayed on the walls in the form of embroidery representing imaginary landscapes. “When we first met, Maria Grazia mentioned the Palazzo Colonna, in Rome, a place that I love very much. There is the so-called Indian embroidery room there, which gave us the impetus. I wanted to interpret my designs through wall embroidery on a large scale for a long time “, explains the latter. The embroidery was done by hand by the students of the Chanakya School of Craft, in Bombay (India).
As in response to this majestic decor, the collection revolves around thread. “ This element is very important in all cultures of the world. The book Threads of Life by Clare Hunter, inspired me a lot. It recalls how the art of sewing is linked to identity, politics or craftsmanship ”, details Maria Grazia Chiuri.
On the catwalk, the thread is visible through tweed braids affixed to jackets and skirts, looped tweed capes and coats, long skirts embroidered with feathers, mottled woolens with a blurred effect or many dresses. large evening in lamé or navy chevron pleated. The Bar suit is redesigned by moving the armholes while trimming techniques are introduced on black velvet for a three-dimensional effect. The designer delivers through this rich collection an exercise in style mastered on the infinite possibilities of textiles.
The House Chanel presented its fall-winter 2021-2022 haute couture collection at the Palais Galliera on Tuesday July 6 in front of 240 guests. The museum hosts until July 18 an exhibition dedicated to the work of Gabrielle Chanel. This season, painting is at the center of the collection. “ It was when I saw the portraits of Gabrielle Chanel in costume, in a black or white 1880 dress, that I immediately thought of paintings. To those of Berthe Morisot, Marie Laurencin and Edouard Manet ”, details the artistic director Virginie Viard in her note of intent.
Jacket and skirt sets in multicolored sequined tweed, vaporous petticoats stitched with camellias, long skirts on which are nestled pink or purple organza feathers, short structured and finely embroidered coats, long white satin dress punctuated with black bows, hats adorned with flowers… Each silhouette gives the impression of an impressionist canvas.
With this first public parade since March 2020, the house returns to the conditions of the live. “Virginie was very inspired by the idea of being able to come to the Palais Galliera. We are a bit limited in the number of guests, but that’s the charm of haute couture. A video accompanies this collection, it is a way for us to exchange with our customers and our friends who have stayed abroad. This health crisis has taught us to innovate. I think we have done more in a year than in five or ten years ”, believes Bruno Pavlovsky, president of the fashion activities of Chanel. At the end of the show, actress Margaret Qualley in a masterful white wedding dress, topped off with a stylish little hat, threw her bouquet of flowers into the audience, very real this time around.
