Sadness takes it all
Boring was the fil rouge of the Paris Couture Week, to the point of taking a nap. With very few exceptions.
The negative sentiment prevailed.
Paris for couture has always meant creativity at its peak. Maybe clothes you wouldn’t wear every day. Or not even once in a lifetime. But couture was the dream, the beauty of creativity skillfully made.
This time, brands told a flat story of bland uniformity. In order to sell in a difficult moment, they’d rather lose idiosyncrasy. What made them special. The reason we recognize them.
Infused with the fear of losing share, or determined to transform themselves into economic giants, they trampled on their own heritage.
Paris Couture Week
The tedious
Dior: perhaps wearable, but now it looks like many others. In fact, we still see Red Valentino in there more than Dior’s heritage.
Chanel: the DNA seemed watered down.
Gaultier: we understand the collaborations, but where’s the Gaultier spirit?
A partial exception
Schiapparelli: designs weren’t all his ideas, but, at least, the collection was impactful.
The exception
Valentino: this is Couture. Italian creativity.
Suzy Menkes wrote that Piccioli had a strong statement to make: women are not all the same. Yes, definitely. But even more, whatever the body shape he represented, women were dressed with elegance. And now that elegance is not in fashion anymore, that stood out most.
However, the idea of showing diverse body shapes in couture is good. But you may wonder if all those women who bought couture so far had the same silhouette of the models. Of course not! But they bought it anyway! You don’t buy couture if you feel represented, you buy it if you can afford it.
Because that’s what couture is: made to measure – made to order for very few lucky ones.
In the end, we understand this is not a good time for creativity, and lowering the bar is a way to reach the masses. But transforming brands into a blob deprived of any identity makes no sense.