Is a free woman necessarily a sexy woman? During this spring-summer 2023 Paris fashion week, which lasts until October 4, designers tend to assimilate these two adjectives, willingly speaking of consciousness or the power of the female body to justify openwork, draped, torn or assembled fabrics. until the skin appears. A subtle stylistic praise of sensuality, sometimes sprinkled with a feminist discourse a little less refined.
Since her debut in 1994, Isabel Marant has made her wardrobe a place of expression for women handling cool and assumed sexy. “ Giving women confidence has always been part of our lexicon. Clothing is how we present ourselves to the world and it should make us feel beautiful”, she explains. On the catwalk, this gives relaxed and sophisticated pieces, fashioned in precious materials, silk tops with floral motifs are accompanied by shiny embroidery, miniskirts too. The leather pants are worn short on the ankles and little dresses with thin straps reveal the shoulders and the back of the girls. We find in this collection what made the salt of Isabel Marant at the very beginning of the 2000s: low-waisted cargo pants, microshorts or crochet tops and swimsuits.
At Hermès, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski offers a collection that embodies “freedom, sensuality, body awareness”. In a setting that reproduces a sand dune lit by pink lights, she imagines “a rave in the desert where you can feel the wind, the heat, the sweat on your skin”. But before getting into space, a bit of sport: the collection, full of references to hiking, manages to make the world of trekking sexy.
The climbing rope closes the back of a little dress, straps the waist of a skirt, goes up along the torso until it passes behind the neck, connects two parts of a modular dress where you can remove the down to shorten it. “The cords all have a function. They hold, tighten, sheath, create volume »specifies the designer, who intends “make the functional desirable”. The color palette, ocher, pink, brown, reproduces all the shades of twilight in the desert, but also echoes those of Hermès. Then come party looks, beautiful dresses where the silk jersey slips over the body and reveals a shoulder, where H-shaped t-shirts with little coverage leave the stomach and hips exposed, where a Shiny black openwork leather creates a play of shadows on the skin.
A vermilion red suit at Victoria Beckham
For Pierpaolo Piccioli, at Valentino, the approach to sexy involves a new line of bodysuits or tops in viscose, which, like the corsets of yesteryear, follow the shapes. But here without constraining them and adapting to all: “They are available in nine colors, to get as close as possible to skin tones, as if the body were almost bare”comments the creator. This formal research is accompanied by a beautiful wardrobe very faithful to the DNA of the label – cape dresses stitched with sequins, richly embroidered loose trousers, little black tulle dresses, jumpsuits that are as close to the body or men’s jackets worn with microshorts.
Here, a short dress with a heart-shaped opening that reveals the fall of the kidneys. Here, a crop top made of piled tassels… This sexy and quirky panoply contrasts with the stylistic seriousness that Victoria Beckham has shown so far, symbolized by chic bourgeois sheath dresses. “I’m not rejecting my loyal customers, but expanding my offer to also speak to younger, body-conscious, sexy, cool customers”explains the designer, in full moult.
The former pop star who became a fashion designer in 2008 has repositioned her brand since the arrival of the French investment fund Neo Investment Partners in 2017 in its capital: she launched a line of beauty products, then a line “VB Body” made of bras, leggings and tight dresses. With an extensive creative team, she parades for the first time in Paris after several seasons in London and New York. The collection, accomplished, contains some very pretty pieces like a peridot-colored dress in silk georgette which falls perfectly, or a transparent vermilion red suit which shows the construction of the garment.
At Givenchy, we find the same dichotomous wardrobe oscillating between sensual woman and sexy young girl. Artistic director Matthew M. Williams could have signed his last women’s show for the house here if his contract is not renewed in early 2023. Since his arrival, in the midst of a pandemic in June 2020, the American has not succeeded to offer a coherent proposition for the brand, which, in its defense, suffers from a lack of readability.
What does the Givenchy woman look like? To the gothic beauties designed by Riccardo Tisci when he reigned over the house between 2005 and 2017 or to Audrey Hepburn in a little black dress? This season, Matthew M. Williams seems to have abandoned the first track. He renews the Hepburn genre through small tweed jackets, sheath dresses, monochrome raincoats. At the same time, he developed a whole panoply inspired by his native California, with hints of the 2000s, no doubt intended to seduce Generation Z: leather bras for walking around with your stomach in the air, multi-pocket Bermuda shorts, faded and torn jeans… The two worlds sometimes meet, and it works; Since Givenchy is not a fashion laboratory, it seems wise to develop pieces for the catwalk that have real commercial potential.
The opposite of Ester Manas
Everyone has their own definition of a conquering woman. At Antonin Tron d’Atlein, she is played by Ripley, the character of Sigourney Weaver in the film Alien (1979), The Incarnation for Him “of the power and strength of femininity” which inspired her to create a collection of draped and carnal jersey dresses, perfectly executed.
At Ottolinger, women’s libido is at stake. Right from the start, the invitation sets the tone: “We saw each other at the restaurant last night and I can’t forget you. I’m counting the minutes until I find you! »we are flirted with by handwritten letter, which gives the address and the place of the ” date “. Arrived at the rendezvous, the guests must settle on large white mattresses, a prelude to a frontal and removed collection. Girls show no quarter, in biker-style leather outfits, crop tops that hide just enough, faded denim or tight floral lace dresses. These go-getters wear pointy resin-dipped shoes, futuristic dark glasses, a rolling suitcase in hand, like after dumping a toxic ex.
“Many women have a somewhat ridiculous obsession with the summer body, says designer Ester Manas, alluding to the goal of having a body you’re proud of when you step into a swimsuit in the summer. With Balthazar [Delepierre, codirecteur artistique], we asked ourselves the question: what is a summer body? For us, it’s the body in which we feel good, like when at sunset, we leave the beach, the hair full of sand and salt, we feel rested and sublime. » On the strength of this principle, Ester Manas has created a wardrobe made up of high-cut knit or ruffled dresses, her signature since her debut in 2019.
Its stylistic proposal is limited to a few ideas, but it is worn by women with really varied bodies, where the thin are, for once, in very clear numerical inferiority. In a way, Ester Manas takes the exact opposite view of most designers who offer a wide range of clothes worn by a single type of woman (thin, even skinny) supposed to highlight her. Produce less and promote diversity: two good ideas which, in the industry, are struggling to spread.