Normally by the time Paris Fashion Week comes around I am so up to my fashionable ears in runway shows that I don’t even want to leave my house… This year though I have been doing a bit more traveling than in years past so I am feeling withdrawls from watching some of my favorite shows.
One of the shows that I couldn’t wait to see is John Galliano. This season of course leading the helm is Bill Gaytten formerly of Dior. And Mr Gaytten didn’t disappoint. The architectural shapes, angular curves and dramatic details left me completely swooning… WWD had this to say about the show.
Bill Gaytten’s John Galliano show notes simply described “a disciplined silhouette” with “geometric cut, drape, tough attitude and texture.” The pragmatism made perfect sense in the context of Gaytten’s fall lineup, which moved the brand another step away from its namesake founder and toward a cleaner, more commercial look.
Gaytten amped up the volume with a subtle futuristic vibe, showing, for instance, a rounded cocoon jacket with a form-fitted skirt. There were also some nice coats, like the burgundy opener with folds across the front and a geometric peplumlike detail.
While the designer did away with Galliano’s runway theatrics, he didn’t quite abandon the founder’s codes altogether. They appeared as soft hints with bias cuts, geometric folds and kimono sleeves.
Much of it was appealing, and if the lineup lacked some of that Galliano punch, it was most likely intentional. Gaytten needs to continue putting his own stamp on the brand to evolve it with credibility. Fall was a step in that direction.
And on another Paris runway Stella McCartney was showing a crop of gender bending looks enviable enough to make even the most feminine girls sit up and take note. WWD’s take was this.
McCartney opened with tailoring manipulated via creative draping; for example, she twisted and cut an ultrachic jacket on a slant, which resulted in an uneven hem. This went over a long, front-draped skirt in a narrower pinstripe. She then ran with the pattern in various widths, going softer in dresses, both austere and long-sleeved and unexpectedly strapless, and dressed down in a big parka and terrific loose, twisty-turny sweaters.
Ever the fashion pragmatist, McCartney seldom loses sight of the importance of function and comfort, a fact she loves to flag on her runway. Here, her contributions to the season’s major coat moment were bold of proportion and in one case, color — a violet bouclé topper. The comfort factor continued in a luxed-up jogging suit and boxy tartans-meets-denim jacket over a flippy skirt that had a not-too-naughty-school-girl appeal. And she turned the always-inviting sweater dress sexy by splicing it with provocatively revealing lace.
Evening offered nods to the smoking as well as wonderfully languid options. These included long dresses made from linear but loose lengths of silk given shape (and held in place) by wide, covered elastic bands, one at the top and the other, midthigh, creating a slight blouson effect. In other words, they were strapless dresses that didn’t look like every other strapless dress, which is to say, constructed, stiff and boring. And they were beautiful. Brava.
Source WWD Photos WWD
