Paco Rabanne’s Heavy Metal

PARIS, France — Clothes made sounds today at Paco Rabanne. There was hardly an outfit that wasn't entangled in metallic elements, plastic sequins, metal mesh, rhinestones and other hardware. And if it wasn't the dress, the skirt or the top, it was the accessories: swimming pool slides and architectural bags.

This season, for the first time in his tenure as creative director, Julien Dossena fully embraced the futuristic and heavily metallurgic heritage of the house. Presented along narrow aisles under glaringly white office lights, it made for an impactful show revolving basically around one idea, which, all things considered, was not about letting Paco's ghost run riot — Mr Rabanne is still alive of course, but the Puig-owned house has long distanced itself from the founder, at least aesthetically — but about making it normal.

There was a sense of the everyday to the rather outlandish outfits, landed by the flat footwear and simple forms, and enforced by the insertion of a bunch of deliberately boring or bourgeois looks - a ladylike twin set, a blazer paired with dad jeans - along the way. It worked well, not least because the overall image was a lot warmer than in the past. The Rabanne girls are finally approachable, if not exactly welcoming. Now that he came to terms with metal, Dossena is ready to test new grounds. We can't wait to see where he heads.