One year after the onset of the pandemic, we could read, in certain collections presented at Paris Fashion Week which runs until March 10, the intimate impact that it had on the creators, these beings. permeable to the air of the times. Re-exploration of their work, spiritual reflection, introspective readings, return to childhood… Everyone uses fashion to reflect on their identity and leave something of themselves through clothes.
At Hermès, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski prepares her collections well in advance. For this fall-winter 2021-2022 season, the research phase took place in April 2020, i.e. in full confinement. “Normally, I travel, I go to the library, I imbibe myself from the outside… There, I had to look for inspiration at home! It allowed me to do a little introspection, to dive back into the archives of my work at the Académie des beaux-arts [à Anvers], of my first jobs ”, she explains, concluding: “Getting to make this collection was a victory! “
The designer can be all the more satisfied that her intention – to send a message of optimism by celebrating a strong, moving woman – has passed. First through the clothes which, season after season, show more grace and sensuality: fuzzy dresses that wave on the body, elastic skirts with slits revealing the thigh and shirts with patch pockets joyfully low-cut alongside a more sporty wardrobe, with cycling pants, parkas with elasticated waist. Fringes, polka dots and denim – uncommon at Hermès – are appearing and bringing a pop dimension to this chic wardrobe.
The celebration of movement also involves staging. Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski imagined a presentation in three acts: the parade (without an audience) in Paris was framed by two dance performances, one in Shanghai (choreographed by Gu Jiani) and the other in New York (by Madeline Hollander ). The proof by three that Hermès clothing is indeed made to be in motion.
Rabih Kayrouz also went back to his archives: “Since last spring, I no longer want to create. I have found that a lot of the clothes I have made in the past have not been used enough. At the time, I abandoned them after a season to meet the need for something new. “ Thus, Rabih Kayrouz decided to reissue the pieces that did not have time to find their audience, not to order new fabrics but to use old stocks, to offer his classics in new materials or colors for form a collection “Essential”.
To see the result, we can only prove him right: his puffer coat is as elegant in olive hue as in fuchsia, the striped tailored jacket with slit on the sides is ideal for slipping hands into pockets, the fluid printed dress spotty looks all-terrain. “Rather than telling the stories of others, you might as well relax in your own treasures”, wisely synthesizes the Franco-Lebanese designer.
Isabel Marant also got down to the exercise of the best-of of her creations. “I wanted to rework all my favorite codes: the folk side, embroidery, androgyny, sport. And mix them up in a slightly futuristic silhouette with shiny leather and vinyl! “, enthuses the designer.
Formulated in this way, the ensemble may seem slightly dissonant, but for the last twenty-seven years that she has been polishing her style, the designer has kept the situation under control: her models proudly wear lace and embroidery tops and utility cotton shorts, combining a light floral dress with a big shearling jacket, a hybrid wool and nylon coat with cowboy boots… Filmed in this brutalist double-helix parking lot in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis) which looks like a spaceship, they correspond well to the description “Cowgirl from a new galaxy” suggested by Isabel Marant.
At Givenchy, the American Matthew Williams, who arrived in June 2020, has still not had the opportunity to express himself through a parade with guests. In the meantime, he is deepening his vision of the house by taking a number of elements from the first for this second collection: either a mix of extreme tailoring (jackets with extra-long sleeves), unifying streetwear (many down jackets), of sexy provocation (bras that frame the breast without covering it), details likely to ignite Instagram (the hairy mittens, the fireman’s backpack). An explosive mixture, perhaps capable of charming the Asian and American markets, but which seems far from the classic elegance of Hubert de Givenchy, the founder of the house. However, it is from him that Matthew Williams refers.
“For me, this house is synonymous with elegance, know-how and craftsmanship. These are the bases laid down by Hubert ”, says the designer who intends to show modesty: “When it doesn’t work the first time, I start over. Failure is one of the keys to success. I will continue to work on my ideas until they become relevant and unique. “
“Last year, I was constantly negative, breathes Rok Hwang, of Rokh, from his London studio. The confinements put me face to face with myself. With the pandemic in my mind, I wondered a lot about what exactly my brand identity was. “ His answer lies in three elements: tailor-made vocabulary, collected palette (black, beige, brown, blue, green), delicate craftsmanship. Strict and structured, fringed and belted, her wardrobe is even sprinkled with a double R on a rock minidress: a logo that can be read here as a signature at the end of a quest for oneself.
It is in books that Joseph Altuzarra likes to look for answers to his questions. “When I came out to my parents, I didn’t know how they felt. Until the day they offered me like nothing The Beauty Line, by Alan Hollinghurst, and other novels in which the hero liked boys. I will never forget this gesture. Even in silence, books connect us to others ”, says the American.
In the video shot in a bourgeois Manhattan interior, he features women with sophisticated outfits (plaid suits, pleated dresses) but in wide cuts and double-sided wools, jerseys, flannels, cashmere and leathers, enveloping enough to wear them on the sofa, letting yourself be absorbed by a work by George Eliot, Nella Larsen, Charlotte Brontë, Audre Lorde or Virginia Woolf, authors who have accompanied him in his creation.
“During this pandemic, I was envious to see my friends, even law students or rational journalists, find peace in African spirituality”, says Thebe Magugu, all smiles from Johannesburg. For this South African, it is in fashion that his personal journey is illustrated. He researched, read, and met healers to create a successful collection in which suits and fringed overcoats, graphic dresses and large hats intersect.
“A recurring print is an abstract reinterpretation of a photo I took, showing seashells, dice, a pencil sharpener that a healer uses in her traditional practice. I also had merino wool mixed with cannabis and imphepho, the plant that we burn at home to try to speak to our ancestors. These are hidden details: only the one who wears the garment knows them, but this contributes to well-being, to this spiritual quest that I wanted to share. “
A zest of the spiritual can also be read in Rick Owens, who scrolls his models directly in what he calls ” my garden “ : a pier of the Lido of Venice, right in front of his house. The American named his collection “Gethsemane”, the name of the vast wooded area where Jesus would have prayed for the last time before his arrest. Translated in the somber and sometimes esoteric manner of Owens, this results in masked models, overprotected by combinations in sequins or cashmere, oversized jackets, knits recomposed into tops or dresses… The ultimate parade before great perils?
10,000 kilometers from this state of mind and from Venice, Wataru Tominaga, settled in Tokyo, makes a plunge into his childhood a joyful interlude. Born in 1989, this Hyères Festival winner feeds on cherished clothes from the 1970s to 1990s to create a capsule of unisex pieces with punchy prints (green landscape or motorcycle racing) and colorful mesh, presented in a regressive kitsch video .
Reconnect with innocence? This is also the journey of Frenchman Benjamin Benmoyal, 30 years old. “After my three years of military service in Israel which were painful, especially during the blockade of 2011, I went to study fashion in London. I wanted to regain my naivety: so I started to use the magnetic tapes of the cartoon VHS that I watched as a child ”, relates in his studio the man who made his debut at Paris Fashion Week.
From this essay for an end-of-studies collection, he learned to treat these plastic bands like a fiber that he mixes with others, of cotton, recovered from the unsold goods of large houses, to build them. striped coats, dresses, capes or tunics. In weaving, this unique material acts as a moving coded clue on its journey. After all, it’s often when fashion has to do with a designer’s intimacy that it’s most touching.