Haute Couture Fashion Week 2014: The highlights
updated the 6 October 2015 à 23:58
From avant-garde silhouettes to relaxed luxury – Take a look at some of our favourite pieces from Haute Couture Fashion Week 2014 in Paris.
Couture has often beared the brunt of being outdated and irrelevant for today’s consumer, especially with the slew of ostentatious ball gowns and avant-garde silhouettes. It seems however, this year, couture has taken some advice because a variety of pieces that went down the runway took a nod to modern influences.
You’ll see toga straps, tube tops, jumpsuit-dress silhouettes from Versace and techni-colour making an appearance.
At Chanel, the immediate attention is almost always on the elaborate set-ups with the customised supermarket topping the charts. This year however, Karl Lagerfeld’s couture collection was remarkably pared back to a white room accessorized with a fireplace through which models emerged.
While the pieces were beautifully constructed and revealed Lagerfeld’s skill to meld historical references and a modern generation, the real focus was on the flip flops that comfortably swished past the runway – not forgetting, shorts made an appearance as well. Comfortable couture as its luxurious best!
At Maison Martin Margiela, the designer is a well-kept secret and a mask of some sort typically ‘shields’ the identity of models to go in line with the brand’s philosophy that the designs are a collective effort. However, this year, the mask behind the designer was apparently lifted to reveal Matthieu Blazy at the helm and what he brought down the runway was exceptionally reflective of the Margiela spirit – of one where vintage meets random quirkiness.
Each piece was a masterstroke, from the borrowed brocade vest belonging to Paul Poiret to dresses adored with coins to appropriately sublimely provocative patchwork dresses and the heart-shaped bodies that read, “I LOVE YOU”. That aptly resounded our thoughts on the collection.
When we heard and saw Schiaparelli’s revival on the runway last season, we knew that the designer, Marco Zanini, had absolute brilliance up his sleeves. This season, the collection was a stunning and eclectic ode to Schiaparelli’s quirky personality. Techni-colour fur sleeves in exaggerated silhouettes, a whimsical selection of millinery, Elsa Schiaparelli’s favourite shade of pink and other unconventional colour combinations brought Schiaparelli to the forefront of couture flamboyance and boy are in for a ride.
Headpieces were not only exclusive to Schiaparelli though. Julien Fournie and Armani Privé got in on the fan fare with chandeliers and wild proportions of net speckled with red and black discs, courtesy of Peter Treacy for Armani. .
French designer, Serkan Cura has a remarkable affinity with feathers and his arresting collection this season called for a dramatic applause. Take for instance, the finale gown that was made with 33 pounds of pheasant feathers bound to have summoned up gasps from the audience and us included. Who knew a plethora of feathers on a dress could look this elegant.
However, if couture to you still resides in fairytale ball gown dreams then at least we can seek solace in Elie Saab who consistently pleases us with his intricately decorated pieces, from head to toe. There is no denying that an Elie Saab gown is one crafted to ornate perfection, fit for a couture collector’s wardrobe and the red carpet.
Tarandip Kaur
