Month: July 2020
Paris taxi drivers usually know when it’s Paris Fashion Week.
Not this time, with participants in their homes or offices behind computer screens or hunched over their phones to discover creative films dedicated to the fall couture collections.
Said films ranged from rapid-fire teaser clips clocking in at less than a minute to Dior’s mega production, a 10-minute mythical movie directed by famed Italian director Matteo Garrone that was followed by five minutes of rolling credits.
Plenty of couture houses — even Chanel — kept it simple with films that mimicked fashion shoots or runway shows.
A word of caution to brands: When using the same model and the same music throughout, tedium can set in.
Other films resembled music videos, while a few went for disturbing drama scenes. Here, a selection of highlights and lowlights.
HIGHLIGHTS
Singer Mika is pitch-perfect as a retro newscaster offering deadpan commentary on Viktor & Rolf’s collection. His description of a spiky coat, part of a gloom-and-doom segment? “There’s a lot to feel angry about and this garment will communicate exactly that,” he intones.
Bouchra Jarrar kept everything close to home, filming twin sisters frolicking in her Paris apartment, where she produced many prototypes herself. Her models also ventured out to a
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MAISON MARGIELA:
The last day of digital shows at Paris Couture Week started with John Galliano’s initial teaser for his Maison Margiela Artisanal Coed Collection.
Galliano will show the collection in a manner that couldn’t be done live (at least no one has tried it): in installments. Today’s teaser will be followed by two others, on July 11 and 15 and the culmination, on July 16, which a brand statement referred to as “a final revelation.”
FRANCK SORBIER:
GUO PEI:
Guo Pei brought a herd of giraffes, elephants and zebras to life via three-dimensional embroideries in an artfully crafted but cartoonlike collection.
ELIE SAAB:
Elie Saab offered a preview of the inspiration for his upcoming collection that will be revealed in September. Entitled “The Sound of the Sacred Source,” the 90-second film offers close-ups of hand-embroidered beadwork and glimpses of sketches, juxtaposing flashes of couture handiwork with nature scenes. A woman’s perfectly manicured hand slides across cracked earth, insects buzz, rain drops fall and water splashes. An electronic soundtrack is punctuated with sounds of the outdoors, a steaming iron and fabric being unfurled.
BOUCHRA JARRAR:
Bouchra Jarrar’s short black-and-white film, directed by Marcel Hartmann, takes place mostly at her home, where she unveiled her comeback collection. She cast twin
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(TrendHunter.com) Balenciaga’s latest Drive sneakers are stark and bold informed by its latest colorway that is detailed by the red accents throughout the model. The luxury fashion house originally launched a…
CHANEL:
Virginie Viard emerged from lockdown with a couture lineup so unapologetically maximalist, it could have walked straight off an Eighties runway. Party dresses, bling and Marie-Antoinette shoes were just some of the ingredients of her presentation during the online edition of Paris Couture Week.
“It’s an eccentric girl with a touch of the Eighties. I wanted something joyful,” the designer said in a preview last week, as photographer Mikael Jansson shot models Adut Akech and Rianne Van Rompaey in an adjoining studio for the show video: a one-minute, 22-second burst of images spliced with grainy black-and-white footage.
ALEXIS MABILLE:
Alexis Mabille showcased his fall couture collection with a virtual show featuring a single model and held inside a shocking pink box.
It’s not the first time the designer has skipped the runway. In recent years, he has experimented with showing his designs in static presentations and even a photo exhibition. This time around, he leveraged the power of social media, teasing his presentation with “making-of” videos.
AGANOVICH:
Under lockdown in Denmark and with their Paris studio closed, it was a time of introspection for Nana Aganovich and Brooke Taylor. Unable to produce a new collection, the design duo started out filming video interviews for their online
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Including why he spits so much onstage.
“I will admit I am def proud of my skin lately and feeling myself!”