Paris is well worth a mass. But also a fashion show, come to think of it. The fashion week dedicated to Haute Couture that has just ended in the French capital has shown the way in an extraordinary way by showing a preview of what we will see in the coming months worn by celebrities on the international red carpets, but also the trends for prêt-à-porter for the season to come.
The watchword: dare not to go unnoticed with an almost maniacal attention to detail. It is Schiaparelli who sets the pace with a provocative and scenographic fashion show that opens Paris Fashion Week. Inspired by Dante's Inferno, the collection designed by Daniel Roseberry features, in addition to the mock taxidermy applied to the clothes, glittering garments with gold triumphs, games of light refractions, sequins or sheets of sheet metal covered in leather. Jewellery, which has long been at the heart of Schiaparelli's contemporary research, takes a further step forward: it is no longer just details, but becomes maxi, gigantic, true works of art to wear.
A trend that we also find on the Giambattista Valli catwalk, which presents a spectacular collection, suspended between dreamlike and baroque. More than the dresses, it is the maxi pendant earrings, studded with diamonds and oversized pearls, that attract attention and certainly cannot go unnoticed. The exact opposite of 'more is less', in fact. The importance given to details was even more evident in Fendi's Paris fashion show, which played on the contrast between the impalpable fabrics and the anything but minimal earrings designed by Delfina Delettrez, artistic director of the maison's jewellery division.
Moreover, it is not only a question of style, but above all of marketing, given that the accessories sector – shoes and bags in primis, but also jewellery, perfumery and make-up – now represents a large slice of the market for almost all the luxury maisons that are increasingly interested in conquering new buyers, even among those sections of the public that cannot afford to buy a Haute Couture dress. This is demonstrated by Prada, the latest major fashion house to have recently equipped itself with a new line of high jewellery made with the exclusive use of recycled gold so as to wink at that part of the market that is clamouring for more sustainable fashion. If jewellery was the protagonist on the Parisian catwalks, no less important was the attention paid to shoes.
Shoes were in the limelight for John Galliano who revisited Maison Margiela's shoe-symbol: the legendary Tabi, inspired by the traditional Japanese socks that come up to ankle height and separate the big toe from the other toes. The shoe comes in all forms: from classic ankle boots to pumps with vertiginous heels that make the models' gait stagger, to pumps covered in rhinestones. Perhaps not very comfortable, but certainly of great visual impact. The mingling of cultures is the fil-rouge that guides Maria Grazia Chiuri's collection for Dior inspired by the legendary figure of Josephine Baker, singer, dancer and performer of African-American origin, who was Christian Dior's muse.
Silk and light velvet dresses that accompany the body by caressing it, tiny silver studs and tiny sequins that radiate light, maniacal care for every smallest detail make the collection a hymn to the most extreme craftsmanship. The accessories that complete the line are inspired by the cabaret of the 1920s. The length, always above the ankle, of the dresses reveals platform shoes, finely crafted in embroidered silk velvet, with a prominent heel and base. A perfect combination of elegance and comfort that give the figure impetus and sophistication.
