Daily favorites in Paris

Every day there is a short list of favorites I’ve seen at the shows. Yesterday the collection of Dries really stood out because of his extra-ordinairy and casual mix of masculine and feminine looks, especially the oversized jackets I loved.

I was also struck by the hair and make up at Limi Feu, the big wide curly hair, one eye hidden and the other made up with black eyeliner and a thick layer of mascara. An the soundtrack was great too, classical music mixed with phrases sung by Billy Holiday.

The day ended with Rue du Mail by Martine Sitbon. The designer played with sheer, colored layers over black or cream dresses. My favorite is the blue dress with visible seams and pleats. The layering look very dynamic and modern.

Hakaan Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

Hakaan Yildirim was this year’s winner of the french Andam-award and the designer – with roots in Turkey and based in London – presented a solid collection in head to toe cream or black for the first time in Paris. He must be a hot ticket, since he somehow managed to get supermodels like Daria Werbowy to walk the show. She opened the show in a slouchy jacket and tapering trousers.

His overall look was minimalist-sexy, with a long elongated silhouette and floorsweeping mermaid dresses. He also presented tunics and minidresses asymmetrical cut and with pleated inserts.

Rochas Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

For his Spring Summer 2011 Collection for Rochas Marco Zanini was inspired by a recent trip to his mother’s country of origin Sweden. In the small town of Fjakelmyra he met local artist Slotts Barbro who is well-known for her traditional canvas prints and asked her to create some exclusive prints for Rochas.

To these typical Swedish prints poetic phrases of French writer Françoise Sagan were added as: “Les merveuilleux nuages” or “Dans un mois, dans un an..” on head scarves, skirts, dresses, and knitted cardigans.

Another eminent pattern, besides the Swedish folkloric print, was a peonies floral print from the early 20th century Bucol archive. Long silk satin slip dresses were washed, hung to dry without ironing to give them a vintage boudoir feel.

The color palette ranged from Indigo blue, mud brow, chartreuse yellow to grass green.

Zanini played with all different kinds of silk: silk satin for dresses and blouses, taffeta for flower printed full skirts, hand-punched silk shantung to give texture to a white full dress, lightweight woven raw silk with topstitched silk lining for loose jackets. The overall mood of the collection was romantic and a bit folkloric.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris SS2011

The oversized jacket at Dries van Noten set the tone of his spring summer collection. No firework of colors, no frills. It turned out to be a quiet, almost poetic collection with elements of workwear (jeans, heavy cotton), chinoiserie (the kimono-dresses, flowerprints, the silk) and menswear.

Colors were light, almost etheral – the lightest tints of gray, yellow, pink and blue – slightly turning into heavier shades, there was also a lot of white, denimblue, marine and black. The mix felt very contemporary and cosmopolitan, like the high-waisted pencilskirts with kimono-blouses or the couture-like tunic with wide pants.

Dries van Noten continues to mix streetinfluences in his collections, like he did this winter with the armywear. It gives his soft voiced style a modern toughness.

Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour Paris! Having breakfast at the courtyard of Hotel d’Albion, the temporary headquarters of Team Peter Stigter. Discusisng the schedule for today with runner Muriel Schouten, streetfashionphotographer Joris Bruring, chef de bureau Lisa Klappe, colleague Jonas Gustavsson and editor Jetty Ferwerda. Peter Stigter is there of course, he took the picture.

Check out the blog daily. Our plans for today: Rochas, Dries van Noten, Gareth Pugh and we take a look at the show of good old Pierre Cardin – see what he’s up to.

On our way to Paris

Yesterday Peter and his colleague Jonas took the train from Milan to Paris, a 7 hour drive with stops in the Alps.

Armani Prive Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Bad news for the brown-, black- and red-haired models who wanted to walk in Armani’s couture show. The Italian designer chose to work only with blonde models this time. He gave them all a classic and feminine look, with a business touch.

The girls wore Armani classics; skirts at a decent knee-length and perfectly tailored jackets. One black croco leather jacket with a waist belt worn over it looked stunning.

The theme of the collection was ‘A play on amber’. This was visible in the large wooden and amber brooches Armani put on his jackets. They were the perfect classic accessory and really made the looks work.

For evening Armani brought on the floor sweeping dresses, mostly in brown and beige like the rest of this couture collection. They all flared out form the bust down. Armani used some gorgeous draping on the dresses. He played with materials like tweed and cashmere. And he ended the show with some mermaid dresses covered in thousands of shiny sequins.

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

Jean Paul Gaultier’s couture collection was all about proportions. The designer accentuated the shoulders and the waists of his designs and therefore made his models look super feminine. His shoulders were not highlighted like on a regular eighties dress, they had extra (thick) fabric and even fur on them which was placed on a big part of the sleeves.

All models wore hat sculptures, which, regardless of their crazy shape, looked quite elegant.

The collection was an obvious fall/winter collection; lots of leather, lots of fur and lots of black. There were a few outfits in remarkable colors though, like a bright green dress, a yellow (almost neon) one and a purple jumpsuit.

With a few looks Jean Paul Gaultier was reminiscing his previous success items. He for instance emphasized the boobs and buts of one outfit by placing a cone of black mink on them to remind us of his already unforgettable cone bra moment.

The whole collection felt very Parisian chic; the models looked sexy and feminine. Dita von Teese’s appearance was the perfect match for this kind of fashion show. The burlesque artist walked the catwalk twice in a detailed lingerie look to promote the upcoming lingerie line of JPG and La Perla.

Chanel Haute Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

The setting of the Chanel Couture show was a round stage on which a huge bronze Lion was standing. Getting the lion inside of the area must have been just as hard as it was with the iceberg, cause it was HUGE! The lion’s front paw was resting on what looked like a giant pearl. From out of that ball Lagerfeld’s models appeared.

The girls made a tangled impression; their hair was messy and most times was hanging all in front of their faces. The clothes on the contrary were flawless. Karl Lagerfeld designed many typical Chanel suits. They were made out of tweed, camel, velvet and many other thick autumn fabrics. The focus was often on the sleeves; those were loose and had pleats.

Karl also played with his jackets; he let his models wear short jackets over long ones and made them look like a one-piece. His skirts were all at knee-length or longer and were often wide like the skirts at the latest Louis Vuitton show. The waists of the outfits were small.

All creations came in shades like maroon, brown, camel and navy. They were highlighted by gold details;  embroideries, sequins and beadings. Eye-catching bracelets and golden boots completed the gorgeous looks.

And we sure hope that big lion was a sign of Karl Lagerfeld saying ‘Holland is going to win the World Cup’. We’ll see about that on Sunday.

Ps. This week rumours were spread about Lagerfeld appearing on Gossip Girl any time soon. Since Blake Lively and Leigthon Meester from that serie attented the Chanel show we think it’s not going to be long before we see Karl on TV.

Christian Dior Couture Catwalk Fashion Show FW2011

John Galliano kicked of the haute couture fashion week with a ‘flowerful’ collection. His creations were based on the most exotic flowers. They had outstanding shapes (resembling the shapes of famous flowers) and gorgeous colors (yellow, purple, cobalt blue, turquoise and red).

To stress the floral theme large flowers were the backdrop of this couture show. Plus, the model’s heads were packed in colorful plastic, like bouquets.

Galliano came up with his designs after studying real flowers for hours and hours. He for instance watched the light change on a tulip, which resulted in some stunning shades and a few amazing degrade effects.

Galliano paid attention to every details of his couture gowns. The ruffles, the feathers, the pleats and the lovely volume of his dresses were all close to perfection.

On the night of the next big gala event, Blake Lively, Jessica Alba, and Lou Doillon, who attended the show, will be fighting over these smoking hot couture creations.

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