Atypical from all points of view, this Paris fashion week allowed the emergence of new presentation formats, as an alternative to the sacrosanct fashion show. While some houses have proclaimed their attachment to catwalks, others have taken the opportunity to explore more unique and differentiating possibilities. In-between, the “real-false” catwalk filmed and shot without an audience will have been the most common standard, where other brands have taken more committed positions, either by assuming a real festive show with dancers, models and audiences like Isabel Marant, or for example by making an ambitious film like Maison Margiela or Marine Serre. XIn addition, if some major absentees like Saint Laurent or Celine are thinking about a new timing, it turns out that most houses vitally need the Paris Fashion Week to promote their collections, whatever the form , real or virtual, physical or digital.
LIFE IN PINK
“Life in pink” is a bit of a mantra that designers choose to escape the gloom. A color not so new but essential; it is she who will compensate for our deficiency in oxytocin, the hormone of love and emotional contact that social distancing deprives us of! From almost mauve to real pink-pink, this is the color that won all the votes.
Chanel
Chloé
Isabel Marant
Balmain
HYBRID
We will have seen many hybrids during this fashion week, whether it is the garment itself, made a bit like a collage, or a silhouette, worked in unseen overlays. A trend that remains the prerogative of the brands whose expertise and identity are really based on hybridization, like Y/Project or Sacaï.
Y Project
Sacaï
Ellery
Paco Rabanne
COMFORTABLE AND PUNCHY
Each house, each designer has its own vision of comfort, a notion that is now essential but which needs to be spruced up in order not to become boring. The big brands have therefore imagined a silhouette that is both comfortable and punchy, which mixes the codes of chic and relaxed fashion, using invigorating graphics and stimulating associations.
Miu Miu
Chanel
Louis Vuitton
Chloé
TAILORING
At a time when the planet lives in floppy sweatpants and hoodies, does tailoring have a future? “Yes” decided the designers but on condition that it is sufficiently renewed. The blazer is engaged in many diversions and twists; the idea is to shake up the structure and proportions, to reinvent certain details.
Balmain
Gauchère
Sacaï
Louis Vuitton
Givenchy
Nina Ricci
THE “TENT” VOLUMES
Considering that the need for protection is omnipresent, we have seen the appearance in the collections of large, ample and light volumes, “tent” volumes one might say, treated with materials that are both silky and technical. The silhouette seems protected from the outside, a feeling quite characteristic of the period we are going through:
Acne Studios
Anrealage
Kenzo
Loewe
THE LACE
A fashion week would not be Parisian without it, but this season, lace is taking off again and lends itself to renewed and exciting interpretations, whether it is an added value on a fluid garment, or whether it is the main material, worked in a more structured way.
Paco Rabanne
Dior
Kwaidan Editions
Stella Mc Cartney
Gauchère
Patou
SHORT LENGH
Midi lengths have dominated fashion for several seasons, will they finally be challenged in their supremacy? It’s not won yet, but the short lengh – even the very short – strikes back and reveals the leg. It echoes a vital need for euphoria and joyfull moments, because fashion is also dedicated to that! Please let spring be here soon:
Chanel
Isabel Marant
Coperni
Chloé
Giambattista Valli
Miu Miu
THE CYCLING
Already in tune recently, the threat is becoming clearer: the cycling short is coming back…! It benefits from a certain appetite for comfort, characteristic of this SS21 edition. Wear it at home or outside, plain or printed, and even in a total-look version, a leotard-style piece, or in denim like at Balmain.
Coperni
Koché
Maje
Marine Serre
Balmain
Stella Mc Cartney
THE SLOUCHY-FLARED
We would almost walk on it but as it is now excluded to hang out in shady places with questionable floors, we will definitely wear it in safe zone: the slouchy-flared, fluid pants, and looking “too long” calls out to us. Rest assured, sometimes a judiciously placed slit allows cohabitation with a shoe … but sometimes not. In this case, we will wear them barefoot and at home then, that will give us a break from sweatpants.
Balmain
Schiaparelli
Stella Mc Cartney
Kwaidan Editions
THE SOCK
And finally, the accessory for SS21 season will be … tadaa … the sock. As an echo of the need for comfort and the joys of “staying at home”, the sock is an obvious must-wear, because it is totally transversal inside-outside. Opaque or slightly see-through, knee or ankle lengh, it offers a new form of femininity, even feminism, with a certain sense of humor.
Dries Van Noten
Acne Studios
Koché
Paul and Joe
