A week entirely dedicated to Haute Couture starts today in Paris. During this annual event, fashion houses present their collections amidst luxury, haute couture and unique workmanship.
Haute Couture fashion is considered a true art. En effet, the creation of each individual dress, garment or accessory can take up to months of work. We often associate this sector of the fashion system with names such as Chanel, Dior, Valentino and Givenchy. In any case, this is the right time to admire the highest artistic expression of each designer’s language.
Summing up the first day of the fashion shows is very simple: Schiaparelli and Dior.
THE BEST LOOKS FROM SCHIAPARELLI‘S HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION DESIGNED BY DANIEL ROSEBERRY
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita, the new Haute Couture collection designed by Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli is a return to a distant past, to 1308 to be exact, when the poet Dante Alighieri began what was to be his greatest masterpiece: Divina Commedia.
As we know, this is one of the most famous works of all time, so if not in a dark wood, the designer has chosen to tell his imaginary story. Schiaparelli’s Spring Summer 2023 Haute Couture collection is the perfect blend of theatricality, surreal worlds and the heritage codes of the historic maison. What stands out, however, are the three looks inspired by some of the most compelling images from Dante’s universe. The leopard, the lion and the she-wolf, representing lust, pride and avarice respectively. These find form in mock taxidermy creations, constructed entirely by hand from foam, resin and other artificial materials. For some a success, for many others an excess. Ça vas sans dire, c’est l’Haute Couture.
THE BEST LOOKS FROM THE DIOR HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION DESIGNED BY MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI
For Maria Grazia Chiuri, designing a Haute Couture collection is a true exploration of building a dress for a body. Body and dress are in fact two concepts that recur very often in Chiuri’s rich vocabulary.
The dresses seem to literally caress the silhouette of the models on the catwalk, amidst silk and velvet, embroidery, precious details and fringes. The trousers, on the other hand, are strictly loose and soft, precisely because the general mission remains absolute lightness. We find the uniqueness of Monsieur Dior in the coats and suits, created strictly with fabrics from the classic male wardrobe. This Haute Couture collection is a journey through time, a tribute to Joséphine Baker – singer, African-American dancer who arrived in Paris from America in the mid 1920s. This character was chosen precisely because she embodied – in those years – the perfect ideal of modernity.
So Dior and Maria Grazia Chiuri seem, once again, to care about the content of that beloved message that places the deepest part of every single woman at the centre.
images by IMAXtree