Paris Day Six: Strategy or Intuition?

PARIS — Strategy or intuition? Taken as a whole, day six of Paris fashion week offered a sort of dual between two approaches to fashion and styling.

Celine

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Michael Rider used the words “jam session” to describe his latest show for Celine, held in a woodchip-floored tent in the second courtyard of the Institut de France, a choice which resonated with his bookish sensibility. But he may as well have been talking about his wider approach to the house.

His Celine is indeed a jam session: a fluid come together of different worlds and pieces in an endless work in progress that can be configured and reconfigured in a multitude of ways. This adaptability is the magic that connects a proposal in which the classic, the abstract, the regular, the irregular and the rebel all coexist in a way that feels alive and real, with just a dusting of fashion fantasy.

Rider’s latest outing saw the designer spin in many different directions: there were fauns in pencil-thin coats and après-ski gals in silver jackets; ladies in sashes (not very convincing) and a whole bunch of characters whose messy, complex, layered inner lives come through underneath the clothes. Giving rhythm to it all were looks in all black, offering relief and reassurance. In its wide variety this nonetheless well-edited show was a convincing ode to incorrect elegance.

Junya Watanabe

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Is it possible to extract beauty from waste? It was for Junya Watanabe, whose latest collection, presented to Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” on a chequerboard runway, was a mind-expanding foray into old school silhouettes made out of modern-day waste and scraps: think faux cul, bustles, corsets and trains created in endless assemblages of motorcycle gear, street signs, strips of feathers, scraps of fabrics and so on. If John Galliano’s atelier was reimagined as The Mutoid Waste Company, this would be its output.

Although based on the repetition of a single concept, the goings never felt repetitive: a stream of endless variations where each outfit left one guessing what would come next. It was a reminder of the magic that can happen when fantasy and the hand engage in a seamless dialogue following pure creative instinct, as far from AI as it possibly gets.

Hermès

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The mood at Hermès bordered on the nocturnal. “Not dark, but deep,” Nadège Vanhee said backstage, stressing the power of twilight — that moment in which light fades, and the moon replaces the sun in the sky — to unleash deep thoughts and feelings. Hermès is largely a day label and the emphasis here was potent.

This wasn’t a journey into nighttime attire per se. The outdoor spirit, equestrian echoes and leathers and the silks that are mandatory at the house were front and center. But again this season the collection was infused with a sensuality, even a sexuality, that was physical and palpable. The skin peeking from zips left undone or flashing between a pair of shorts and a pair of cuissardes was an important part of the outing, and a clear reminder of the strides the Hermès woman has taken in conquering a new femininity that is more strong than sweet: a sensual but commanding stance. At times the goings looked a little rigid, but it worked. What was truly sensational was the palette of blue-tinged nightly colours.

Balenciaga

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At Balenciaga, Pierpaolo Piccioli seemed to favour rational planning over spontaneity. His second runway show for the house solidified the approach he is taking to the project: a blend of his own couture pedigree with references to Balenciaga tropes à la founder Cristobal and Piccioli’s predecessor Demna. As such, there were plenty of sculpted shapes rendered eminently street-worthy. Such an approach is probably what the brand needs at the moment, but it doesn’t offer a new vision of fashion per se. Can Piccioli break the mould?

Comme des Garçons

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“I have come to realise that, after all, black is the colour for me,” said Rei Kawakubo in one of her typically cryptic and brief post-show notes. After all, black is the colour of creation and rebellion of which she is a master. Of late, Kawakubo has been interested in the universe and black holes — antimatter, parallel worlds, that sort of thing. And this outing seemed to come straight out of a giant black hole. And yet it felt like a dream, not a nightmare: the fringing, the intense ruching, the lace, the feathers in the hair and the evocation of the female body through hourglass shapes worked to combat what may otherwise have been somber and cumbersome. A bright pink intermezzo broke things up, but gave way to more black, and the final effect was powerful.

Noir Kei Ninomiya

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Over at Noir Kei Ninomiya the mantra was “dark blooming” which basically meant a mix of punk or S&M (studs, harnesses), romance (frill, flaps) and the rhythmic, protruding sculptural decorations in hard and industrial materials such as metal and vinyl that Ninomiya is known for). Scored with loud and distorted sounds, this one was a signature Noir show: slightly unsettling but, beyond all the sculptural accessories and the amusing hairdos featuring animal figurines, a tad formulaic.