The final push in the fashion calendar this year, Paris Fashion Week represented endings in other ways, too. Jean Paul Gaultier’s spectacular show was his ready-to-wear swan song, as he turns his focus to couture and perfume. The designer Peter Copping leaves Nina Ricci after five years to take the lead at Oscar de la Renta. And a sad farewell was bid to the founder of Chloé, the Egyptian-born Gaby Aghion, who died on Saturday at the age of 93.
In many ways it was also a fresh start, with a number of the regular trends of recent seasons giving way to a new sense of fun – out with the po-faced puritanism at last and in with feminine glamour and attitude for spring/summer 2015.
Here are our top six trends from the week.
Embellishment
After season upon season of increasingly pared-back and plain fashion, spring/summer 2015 sees the return of glitzy embellishment. While beading, sequins and appliqué are always to be expected at Elie Saab – and he didn’t disappoint, with dresses densely, glitteringly picked out – and Giambattista Valli is no stranger to a delicate waterfall of paillettes, the most stunningly embellished pieces came in the rock-and-roll creations of Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent. A floral mini was completely encrusted, as if the beads had grown onto the dress like barnacles, while a velvet jacket and cape were both splashed with firework-like explosions in silvery beads.
Shift dresses
Body-con may still be lingering in some quarters, but a more relaxed silhouette has found its way onto many catwalks this season. The shift dress, usually a mini that can be worn alone or as a tunic over trousers, came in A-line at Giambattista Valli, a straight cut at Martin Grant, Rabih Kayrouz and Saint Laurent, and as a more complex square-cut tulle overlay at a surprisingly light-hearted Rick Owens show. It might seem a simple style, but a fluid fabric, glitzy panels, pretty embellishment or a carefully tailored cut make this one of the most flattering frocks out there.
Long bell-bottoms
Legs that appear to go on for miles are one of the key goals of a good pair of trousers and the cropped and tapered trousers of recent seasons have had mixed results. This season’s trend for floor-skimming flares, then, should make many women very happy. Best worn with high heels or platforms, rendered invisible by the super-long hem, of course, these are trousers that keep hips looking tiny and legs looking extended – especially when, as at Bouchra Jarrar, Elie Saab and Giambattista Valli, they are worn with matching tops or as a jumpsuit – making for a seamless silhouette.
Sports styling
The sportswear trend has been seeping through for the past two seasons and finally took full flight for spring/summer 2015, with athletic mesh fabrics, muscular cuts and sporty detailing appearing in many shows. It varied from explicit – as in the cycling and lucha libre segments of Gaultier’s show and Viktor & Rolf’s technical fabrics, sneaker-inspired high heels and aerobics soundtrack – to the subtly physical, as at Vionnet, where wrestling belts, gladiator sandals and sporty backpacks were mixed with dance-inspired garments – and a dancing-shadow backdrop to the catwalk.
Long waistcoats
The new lengthened tailoring lines can easily be brought into an existing wardrobe using one of the long tailored waistcoats that were found on many catwalks. Sleeveless for summer, they instantly dress up, unify or formalise an outfit, especially when made in a knockout fabric as with Balenciaga’s black-on-black diamond-embellished robe or Dries Van Noten’s colourful Eastern silks. The most fabulous were by Raf Simons for Dior’s 18th-century-inspired collection, which were tailored with Rococo complexity, creating swinging, springing skirts. They featured a multitude of tiny buttons and came in vibrant raspberry and saffron satins.
Florals and delicate florals
A perennial spring favourite, florals have nevertheless had a quiet time of late, thanks to the frenzy for plain fabrics and colour-blocking. Now they’re back in bloom, with a number of treatments, ranging from strong, stylised, almost cartoonish, outlined prints at Rabih Kayrouz, Viktor & Rolf, Nina Ricci and Roland Mouret, to tiny, delicate blossoms in pastel shades, sprigged across stiff silks at Dior, flowing down painterly tunics at Giambattista Valli and lightly combined with flitting birds on the most fluid of chiffons or embroidered onto light tulle at Rochas.
artslife@thenational.ae
