Givenchy Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Riccardo Tisci redefined the word Womanly with his fall collection, amplifying the sensuality and subverting the traditional while layering on fantasy, modernity and luxury. The collection was about celebrating femininity and the rock woman.
Tisci created a tension between rich romance and powerful tailoring, opening with the former on buttoned-up silk blouses and skirts with soft pleats and tucks. Increasingly dreamy incarnations of that silhouette came in a leopard-print dress with butterfly wing motifs on the bust, and a butterfly print blouse with a ruffle in the outline of a heart on the chest.

As an aggressive contrast to the flou, many of the soft blouses had stark, linear strips across the shoulder blades. Similar strips and panels recurred throughout the show, adding strokes of color and geometry to his riffs on knit twinsets and tailoring cut with a Forties masculine allure.

The palette deepened and brightened throughout the show on abstract butterfly and snake motifs, leathers and opulent furs. The show culminated on a darkly seductive note: lean gowns with fitted shell-like tops and black pleated skirts.

Streetfashion Paris Womenswear FW2014, Day 5

What are you wearing during the fashionweeks? Your Gucci-shoes, that vintage Prada or your latest Givenchy-sweater? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris Womenswear Fashion Week fall/winter 2014.

Chloe Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Not young girls walked the Chloé runway on Sunday, but grown women, sophisticad and elegant. Women with taste, who know fashion should be fun but wearable too. And so Waight Keller’s Chloé collection full of loose fitting designs seemed appropriate for women of any kind of shape and size. Strong woolen coats (in pastel shades), leather pants (in shades like nude and burgundy), and fur sweaters (in off white and mustard) were true winter pieces. Yet some of the creations (the second ruffled dress, an airy floral printed number with sheer star shaped patches and a printed skirt with sheer white blouse, to name a few) appeared a little too chilly, even for fall. With the brand’s minimalistic highlights behind us the more sober designs remained the strongest pieces out of the bunch. Apart from a rainbow leopard creation prints failed to make a big impression, while a navy dress with golden buttons around the collar seemed a little too forced. No, forget the party dresses and sheer sexiness; the Chloé woman is on top of her game rocking her every day, slightly oversized, wardrobe, which might not scream fashion, but can make any regular day oh so chic.

First View Paris Womenswear FW2014: Fearless

A fearless mash-up of fashion tribes, fetish dolls, couture fascination, safari chic and hip-hop style. What binds these collections it the extraordinary level of artisanship. These designers quote freely from their personal oeuvre and find ways to mix these with fresh tempting inspirations without loosing their identity.
Rick Owens stages his family tribes in futuristic war costumes. This silhouette actually being one of the single patterned items he showed, reminiscent of Star Wars snow patrols. Wearing slick leather pants, super power bracelets and protective funnel neck collars
Yohji shows us power dolls wrapped in densely padded pillows. Soft cocooning stealth-wear, fantastically trippy in happy handprints.
Raf Simons arms Christian Dior models with couture. Power dressing in layered vibrancy, linking seemingly endless side splits with embroidered decorations, rewriting the secret codes of couture.
Balmain’s designer Olivier Rousteing dresses his global army of freedom in a dramatic, military-turned-tribal collection. Here with optical leather weave wrap skirt topped with an electric pop of red lamb’s fur.
A story of love (to quote Rick Owens) – love for fashion.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Jean Paul Gaultier Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

JPG was not just a womenswear show, the designer showed menswear and kids creations too. In fact the event went way beyond a simple fashion show. We were invited into Gaultier’s galaxy and flew to the moon and back in fifteen minutes. On our little trip we spotted guys and girls from outerspace rocking 3D hooded tops with metallic details, skinny leather pants, quilted satin skirts, high collars, organza layers, lots of zippers and fur details, all in a shade of grey/greenish (like the show area). When the Mohawk man in his tartan skirt appeared the collection came slightly more towards earth (down to earth it never got). Biker jackets, leather skinny pants, short trenchcoats, flared skirts, lots of tartan prints, stripes and a wide selection of looks that had the British flague printed all over them. All in exaggerated proportions with lots of zippers and the same unearthy kind of styling. Futuristic looks for young and old. But most of the hyper modern looks seemed mostly suitable as a stage attire for JPG’s front row guest Rihanna.

Kenzo Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Busy printed, bright colored and architecturally shaped; Carol Lim and Humberto Leon’s collection for Kenzo, inspired by the movie Mulhulland Drive in a nutshell. “Wild at heart and weird on top”, the designers called it and really, we couldn’t come up with a better description. Prints looked animal inspired, yet weren’t. The color palette had warm shades of red, gold and purple it in, as well as different hues of (fresh) green. The silhouette switched between long and lean and structured (flared skirts and 3D coats). Some looks appeared minimalistic, others over the top. Peplum jackets, tailored waistcoats, high waisted pants, jumpsuits, strapless (apron) dresses, biker jackets and flared dresses, mostly created out of real winter materials like heavy wool and thick rubberized leather were all in the wild & weird mix.

Please enjoy the pictures for now, our review will follow shortly.

Comme des Garcons Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Monster. That’s the word connected to the new Comme des Garcons-collection. Kawakubo’s green-lipped models plodded by ominously trancelike, arms bound and faces sometimes obscured, encased in piles, piles and more piles of thick, undulating padded knits, their bodies mere foundation for misshapen masses of woolen darkness and multiple sleeves. In show notes, Kawakubo said: “It’s not about the typical monster you find in sci-fi and video games. It’s more about the craziness of humanity, the fear we all have, the feeling of going beyond common sense, the absence of ordinariness, expressed by something extremely big, by something that could be ugly or beautiful.”

Haider Ackermann Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

Long lean silhouettes in a palette of grays, taupes, greens and browns awaited us at Ackermann. Designs with which the designer tried to portray gracefulness through their masculinity. And so models sported gray suits with long sleeves and low V-necks. They wore skinny velvet and leather bias cut pants with short structured jackets. Floor sweeping woolen coats and dark, lean turtle neck dresses belted around the waist. If the designs and the models’ expressions didn’t breath enough carelessness, it were the hands in those pockets that added to the feeling the collection, and perhaps Ackermann himself, was at ease. Creations may have started from a menswear point of view; worn by those graceful models, looks were sophisticated and tough (especially those zip-front jackets) even sporty at times, yet never too masculine. A hounds tooth print used on the thickest kind of wool looked perfect for winter and particularly beautiful on a maxi dress paired with a black top. A sober collection with just enough fresh influences to get us excited. Simplicity at it’s finest.

Junya Watanabe Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear, FW2014

We started our morning with an all black Watanabe collection (including the strangely cut black wigs the models wore). Dark it was, dull not at all. With every single look the designer managed to portray his strong craftsmanship. He introduced round (and rectangular towards the end) shaped patchwork details and gave his creations a 3D effect by layering multiple textures on top of each other and bundling woolen, leather and fur pieces of fabric. Sequined pieces were in the patchwork mix too, followed by architectural Michelin-like coats, one could live in. Long dresses with straps of ribbon attached vertically onto sheer fabric formed the finale of what appeared to be clothes for a night out. Some looks might come across a little too bizarre for hitting your average night club, although seen independently, without the extreme show styling, some of the tops or bottoms could definitely work in any metropolitan city.

Maison Martin Margiela Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear FW2014

A sober collection which had British tweeds as a starting point welcomed us at Maison Martin Margiela. First off was a long grey tweed coat, followed by a camel colored sleeveless ensemble. There was a black/brownish tweed suit with strong shoulders and a navy shaded pleated tweed dress worn over a suit in the same color. Midi skirts, overalls and perfectly pleated pants and what looked like a fifties inspired tailored dress were sent out. The focus was on the models’ waists, which was accentuated by small tied leather belts (in camel, red and black). Oh and they sported leather boots, bags and collars too. On perfect pleated pants models sported feminine lace tops, thick Nordic sweaters (again with strong shoulders) and strapless suit jackets. Masculine inspired, but a perfectly feminine collection all together.

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