Louis Vuitton Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Tired of a full month of fashion editors had every reason to stay in Paris till the very last day of fashion week. This morning Nicholas Ghesquière debuted at Louis Vuitton and every fashion professional was eager to discover what his first, highly anticipated collection would be all about. It was about the Vuitton legacy, so the show notes read. Ghesquière took away all the spectacle Marc Jacobs had been creating for the last seasons (remember the train, the escalators, the carousel?) and lead the focus back on the clothes. On a criss-cross of daylight lit catwalks models sported sixties inspired A-line creations. Like knee-length skirts with sweaters vests or little tanktops. Like high waisted patent leather pants with tailored jackets. Like playful printed dresses with front zipper details and shaggy cream trenches. Like patchwork pants with boxy tops and camel swing coats. All in a fall fitting palette of greens, oranges, camels, grays and green, paired with luxury travel bags (no Vuitton show is complete without those) and ankle boots with strap detailing. The bare legs and cleavage might be a little too opportunistic for winter season, but Ghesquière made his point. He gave the French fashion house extra wearability in order to expand the brand’s market internationally, yet added enough edge to keep things modern and us interested.

Isabel Marant Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

After having shown her bestseller items with her H&M collection Isabel Marant was in for a (slight) change with her fall/winter 2014 collection. Don’t worry, there were still plenty of shoulder accentuated jackets, ethnic prints and bare legs at sight. Yet Marant took a little more risk, stepping away from the expected it-girl kinda creations. She, for instance, introduced new pants proportions (not skinny but slouchy this time) and gave her girls a boyish and almost a nerdy kind of look with her chunky grey knits, large overcoats, camouflage shades and careless styling. Oh and not to mention the shoes… woolen ankle boots, full of leather straps with a fur lining every now and then, which might just become next winter’s it-shoe. Perhaps Marant is slightly changing her focus onto a different kind of girl. But changes are her loyal fan base of hot, cool girls is just changing with her. She might just skip the new proportions and rock those fur vests, metallic military tops, super short skirts and overall inspired safari dresses like never before.

Christian Dior Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

After opening a brandstore in Amsterdam last month Dior made clear The Netherlands form a target market important enough to focus on. So Dutch actrice Carice van Houten being invited as a front row guest (next to Jessica Alba and Rihanna) at this afternoon’s show for the first time was no coincidence either. And if you ask whether those fall/winter ensembles looked suitable for the Dutch woman, the answer is yes. Raf Simons presented a colorful, well tailored, elegant and sophisticated collection women can actually wear (yes even while cycling to work, like us Dutchies do). There were deep colored, double breasted suits to hit the office in. Models wore chic woolen trenchcoats which had ¾ sleeves with long colored gloves. Simons sent out quilted, flared dresses, paired with flared scarves. Bright (fluo) dresses were worn over tank top dresses in a different color. Each and every single double breasted, pinstripe jacket paired with a shirt dress and bare legs looked super chic. Lace up going out dresses seemed elegant for women of any age. And the finale, existing of a number of floor sweeping sheer dresses worn over shorter simpler designs, had a fresh kind of coolness we’d sure like to try.

Marni Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Womenswear FW2014

“Amplification, exaggeration, gentle distortion,” Consuelo Castiglioni wrote in her show notes. And exaggerated it was… Furs and feathers to the max, busy prints, bright shades, large glasses, feral hair.. Marni has a lottt going on for upcoming winter. But even though those prints almost hurt our (Sunday morning) eyes and that larger than life spotted fur coat won’t find a home any time soon Castiglioni presented us with lots of solid fall/winter style ideas. She made us think of ruffled dresses and corsets paired with jumpers, she showed sporty neopreen can be sexy and proved bright pink can be ultra chic. The finale of full on fur ensembles and feather (Dutch duck) details might be a little too provocative for Marni’s clientèle, for this show they clearly worked. Besides, in our mind we’re already combining exaggerated bits and pieces from this Marni show and matching those with our everyday wardrobe at home. Mix ‘n match; a fashion motto suitable for any designer’s creations, but particularly with such an outspoken collection as today.

Prada Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Womenswear FW2014

In the same spirit as the menswear show in January Miuccia Prada presented her f/w2014 womenswear collection on Thursday (okay..and a few menswear looks shown by a selection of male models). As an orchestra was playing and actress Barbara Sukowa was singing we were once again wowed by Prada’s girls. Natasha Poly (back on the runway since giving birth last year) opened the show in a black satin dress and bright red boots. Followed by girls in sheer dresses (feminine) with boxy coats (masculine) full of shear ling details and woolly edging. Things that, in Miuccia’s words, look either sophisticated or plain vulgar. The designer made lots of room for color; purple, red, mustard, gold and cognac in the mix with darker tones. They were used on bold seventies prints, inspired by the 1972 movie The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Skinny silk scarfs (which had a tie feeling), sandal-like shoes and chain shoulders bags were the collection’s accessories. Another refreshing collection from Miuccia’s hand. Let’s hope she will have enough time left to keep designing in the future, now that she’s also the company’s Co-CEO.