” We start to go out again, there is an energy, an enthusiasm in the city. All the foreigners who are here are amazed by this positivity and joy! “, Explain Giambattista Valli, met in the showroom of his brand, during the haute couture week which took place in Paris from July 5 to 8. A rediscovered freedom that the Italian designer has expressed through a series of great evening outfits, tailored for fiery nights.
Here, tulle takes its ease on dresses in pastel colors, there, pale pink organza feathers sting a long luminous dress entirely embroidered with silver sequins, draped dresses play on dramatic asymmetry … The allure is glamorous in possible. Some of the models have already spun for the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.
In Rabih Kayrouz, the couture spirit is revealed through six perfectly executed models. “ When I start to think about a collection, I don’t categorize ready-to-wear or couture. It’s only when I start to switch to formatting that I define what it is about. For me, sewing isn’t just a fantasy or a lifestyle, it’s a skill. ”
To pay tribute to this know-how, the Lebanese designer has chosen to take key pieces from his wardrobe and enhance them thanks to the dexterity of his workshop. Thus, a trench coat is stitched with thread and golden shell moldings, a blazer jacket is fashioned in a precious satin and cut in the back, a large ceremonial coat is adorned with knitted black velvet fringes … L together is insanely chic.
Olivier Theyskens, artistic director ofAzzaro Couture since early 2020, has been able to unearth at the Palais Galliera archival models of the house that he had never seen in front of him. Observing these vintage pieces from all angles opened up horizons for him. “ I saw that there was a real spirit of freedom there. Simplicity in construction. Something cooler and easier to wear than you might imagine. “ Hence the fluidity of the lines of the collection presented: the dresses slide over the body, sometimes asymmetrical, sometimes split along the entire length of the leg, the openwork tunics call for being worn on bare skin.
Olivier Theyskens also reappropriates the ornaments of the 1960s and 1970s: abundant bead embroidery, an avalanche of sequins, jewelry chains stretched between two sides of the skirt… The whole thing constitutes a wardrobe that rustles and plays with the light. Because, as in the heyday of the house, Azzaro’s haute couture is above all made to shine in the evening.
Great evening also at Ronald van der Kemp. For his brand RVDK, the couturier follows a clear line: all fabrics are recovered from vintage couture models or from the stocks of high-end manufacturers. Sa 14e collection bears an eloquent name: “The mind vaccine”. “ The Covid-19 has led to such reconsideration that everyone has gone about their good ecological resolutions. But for how long ? I fear that with the vaccine and the return to “normal” life, everyone will return to their bad habits. What we need is a mind vaccine, a mental vaccine that profoundly changes our behavior. “
Founded on an eco-responsibility of steel, the collection oscillates between a “fur” jacket made from jeans, a long dress lined with faux silk feathers and a coat made of recycled felt circles. As always, the silhouettes are powerful, with their pop colors and exaggerated curves. In short, without carbon, the party is crazier.
This philosophy resonates with that of the Italian house Aelis. Here too, the materials are eco-responsible. And, here too, we play the couture card to the full, with a wardrobe for special occasions. The Tuscan countryside, stronghold of designer Sofia Crociani, is the matrix of the collection: the colors of the forest set the tone for a particularly long train dress, the movement of blades of grass in the wind inspires shifting dresses in organic silk muslin… As for the imprint left by the Etruscans, we find it here and there in an antique cup – and in the general idea of a civilization in osmosis with nature.
Aelis goes so far as to advocate a lower consumption of physical objects in favor of virtual goods, by creating the first couture dress sold in the form of NFT (non-fungible tokens, those encrypted digital objects that have already invaded the art market). ” Real or virtual, concludes the designer, a couture piece is a work of art. We keep it and pass it on. What could be more sustainable than that? “
Finally, note the arrival of a UFO: the puzzling Andrea Brocca, who chose to present their first couture collection in Paris. This Italian-born designer trained in Central Saint Martins, London, before returning to Dubai, where he has always lived. “ He is entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest fashion designer in the world ”, slips us his press officer.
In 2008, aged 13, Andrea Brocca designed the “Andrea” dress for the Alice Temperley brand, which quickly sold out. At 16, he founded his brand and opened a boutique in a Dubai shopping center. Funny bird, then. His first haute couture collection contains five models, no more. Five silhouettes resulting from a reflection on construction in 3D, haloed with a somewhat presumptuous speech on what mathematics can teach us about beauty. The Golden Ratio and Fibonacci sequence apparently presided over the development of these sculptural outfits, which are sure to be worn on a stage or a red carpet – Lady Gaga is already one of the aficionadas.