Maison Martin Margiela Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

That was a good old Margiela-show: held in an empty industrial complex, seated in second hand chairs, drinking cheap wine and watching a collection with all the elements Margiela is known for. Mixing expectations, menswear and womenswear, exaggeration and extreme tailoring.

The pressrelease called it A new definition of the men’s wardrobe’ and ‘Menswear morphs into womenswear’. The result was a pretty sophisticated collection, with precise cut and impeccable finishing.

Sleeves of perfect cut jackets were blown up, waistlines of skirts and pants were floating as if the model had no waist and hips. Instead it gave her the straight silhouette of a man. Silk chiffon layers suggested lightness and distinction, especially when worn with rough knitted wool cardigans or big furry jackets and hats.

Typical men’s artefacts were blown up to become women’s jewellery: cufflinks turned into bracelets and rings, watchbands became maxi-belts, keyrings changed into necklaces. And the famous white Margiela box morphed into a new clutch-box.

It was good to see the team behind the Maison is back on the track after the designer Martin Margiela left. Although the concept of the show looked familiar. Let’s hope they will get ahead of us soon.

Lanvin Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

You can see in every detail of Alber Elbaz’ designs for Lanvin that he loves his job, but – above all – that he loves women and that he understands their way of dealing with clothes. No difficult shapes or silhouettes, but flattering dresses, sporty & elegant jumpsuits and classy but also modern skirtsuits. His fall winter collection was inspired by tribal cultures, it was in the dark and earthy colors, the accessories, the feathers and furry details, the black hair and in the shoes.

Elbaz doesn’t dictate his clients what to wear, he suggests and gives them the freedom to add big, chunky accessories and ultra high heels. He gives them the tools, like fierce dresses with ultra-wide coat-shoulders, dresses with one arm cut-away in red and pine-green, big coats, pleated skirts and a sensual suits – the women make it their own.

Maybe that’s why the stage – a stairway to heaven – was so symbolic. Once you wear a Lanvin, it really feels like heaven.

Vivienne Westwood Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

Fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, the Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beansteak were Westwood’s inspiration for her Prince Charming (fall) collection. Her models wore large colorful crowns, hats and cloaks. Their lips were bright red, their eyes were dark and some models had small mustaches painted on their faces. Very fairy tale-like indeed.

Like children love fairy tales they would have loved this colorful collection. The brightest pieces (in purple, red, mustard yellow and blue) were combined together. Colored leggings, belts, enormous hats and big bags completed the looks. Every item seemed to add more fun to the collection. Yet, apart from a pair of printed black and gold leggings, we probably wouldn’t leave the house soon in any of the designs. The shapes just looked too crazy and many items didn’t look finished.

The emphasized shoulders and the voluminous dresses were two great aspects of the show. Towards the end a white dress with floral prints and a light-colored waist belt looked lovely. An orange/pink gown felt like French couture and would also look perfect on the Sleeping Beauty (plus sleeping is probably the best thing to do in a delicate dress like that).

As in this year’s menswear shows Vivienne Westwood paid some attention to climate change. According to her climate change is, at the moment, the context of everything she does. ‘Like everyone who has woken up to the fact that we are endangered species I try to do something about it. And I wish to understand the world’, she said. Still, apart from a water bottle with the message ‘Stop climate change’ on our seats the problem wasn’t visible during the show.

With this collection Westwood showed a good game of dressing up. But although we knew the inspiration (fairy tales) of the show we didn’t get the one model that seemed to be calling on her cell. We also didn’t understand the dress full of paper streamer. As far as we’re concerned that dress was never worn in any fairy tale. So when we heard ‘If you could read my mind love’ at the end of the show we actually wanted to read Vivienne’s. Caus some parts of the show we just didn’t get.

Christian Dior Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

The fall/wintercollection of Christian Dior was a polished version of the haute coutureshow, where the Libertines were John Galliano’s inspiration. Again tough riding-clothes were mixed with more romantic dresses, tops and skirts. It was a well done clash of the historical masculine and feminine, something John Galliano likes the most.The result was sensual and sophisticated without screaming too loud.

He opened the show with a brown leather coat over a ruffled, chiffon dress- romantic at its best. But there were also tailored coats, ruffled dresses in perforated leather, checked jackets and jodhpurs. This seasons hot items – the big knitted sweater and cardigan – were also present, yet with sensual, lingerie-like details like ribbons and lace.

Manish Arora Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

I remember helping his models get dressed for a show he gave in the Netherlands. I was amazed by the colorful architectural designs he had created. I loved how his designs were embroidered with crystals and beads. It was all so different from everything I had seen before.

With his fall/winter collection Manish Arora proved he still had that ability to amaze people. We were wowed by an off white dress with eye-catching, padded shoulders and a strange print. A dress with a pink peacock pattern and a gray sequined top caught our attention as well.

Apart from the peacock influences and some floral details Arora used a lot of geometrical prints in every color of the rainbow (all made from beads and crystals). The emphasize of the clothes was clearly on the shoulders and upper arms. Rounded and pointy designs alternated each other.

As if there wasn’t enough color used in the clothes all model wore bright, short wigs and contrasting colorful eye make-up. The last three girls even had a luminous bundle of treads on both side of their heads.

Manish Arora’s show full was a lot of fun to watch. Not all designs will be very wearable, but when you show this much creativity in a collection wearability is not all that matters.

Nina Ricci Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

For the first time since Olivier Theyskens had left Nina Ricci the brand was on the official schedule of the Paris Fashion Week. That must have been a relief for Peter Copping.

With his second Nina Ricci collection he wanted to ‘appeal and relate to different types of women’, he said. Yet the ladies we encountered at his show were not that diverse. In their below the knee dresses they all looked like sophisticated, up-town girls.

The fall collection, inspired by the Belle Epoque/Bausch had the same romantic feeling as the Ricci spring collection, though there was more contrast visible this time. Woollen coats were combined with airy transparent tops. Tulle and leather were mixed in several looks as well.

Many outfits were decorated with flowers and had feminine details like ruffles, pleats and lace. It all looked very graceful. Still the flowers were a bit overwhelming on some dresses.

The final dresses were, apart from some cutouts and transparent parts, very winterproof. They touched the floor and were worn with large overcoats of the same length. Those dresses and coats surely will have to be shortened for the average women, cause even the feet of the tall models were not visible any longer.

Some say Copping still has to learn how to let his own voice speak after many years at Louis Vuitton. But we think he already did a good job. Some of the long dresses might just end up being worn at the Oscars this weekend.

Streetfashion Paris FW2010 Day 2

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Balenciaga-heels, your latest Marni-dress or that vintage YSL? 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.

Rick Owens Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

With their hair combed backwards and their black (mean) eyes Rick Owens’ models looked like a tribe of wild, powerful women. Their asymmetrical clothes had the most unusual shapes. Some of the garments even seemed to exist of only a thick blanket in some way sewn to make it wearable.

The show felt dark in many ways. The runway was hardly lighted, the models wore dark make-up and, as always with Owens, the clothes had a very dark edge to them. Yet we must say it was pleasant to see some earthy shades of green, gray and brown, in stead of all the black we saw last season. Owens even used a splash of metallic in some of his designs.

His materials varied from fur to wool and leather. Most of the leather jackets had eye-catching standing collars, which made the models look even tougher.

A combination of a long waistcoat and a hoodie was repeated throughout the show several times. It came by in a gold/beige metallic version and in fur and leather. One of them had geometric patterns all over it. Those patterns and the zigzag leggings felt pretty renewing for Rick Owens.

Many of the clothes were decorated with small pointy pieces of (what looked like) plastic. The small hooks with which they were attached were clearly visible.

The models wore wedge boots and remarkable gloves with fur details. Their big leather belts made them look extra powerful.

So all though ladies will have to make their way to the Rick Owens store next season. Let’s see if they can make those tribal designs work without the crazy hair and make-up from the show.

Balmain Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

Many of us must have thought it would be time for Balmain to say goodbye to the emphasized shoulders. But just when we thought there couldn’t possibly be any more variations to his pointy shoulders and military influences, Christophe Decarnin impressed us with his glittery, sexy, shoulder-emphasized dresses and military jackets.

The dresses were short and came in gold with black or purple. They had some Baroque-inspired floral patterns on them, made from shiny sequins. We loved the dresses and the whole eighties vibe around them, including Prince’s song ‘Let’s get crazy’, which actually proved to be a good catwalk song.

The pointy shoulders seemed to look the best on the short snappy dresses and on some slim cut jackets. We just didn’t get the same glam rock vibe from the three long dresses. But we suppose they had to represent the small ‘winter part’ of the collection, together with a few tight shiny pantsuits.

Apart from the glitters, the gold and the black Decarnin’s designs were colored purple. The color popped up two or three times: on a fur coat, a dress and a tight velvet jacket.

We can not say this Balmain collection was very renewing but it surely had some amazing success-items in it that will keep the sales as sky-high as they’ve become since Decarnin got involved. Never change a winning look?!

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

The Balenciaga collection we saw today may not have been the most wearable one. Yet we must give Ghesquière some credits for the experimenting he did.

His computer-age inspired clothes were rounded and stiff at the same time. The padded architectural coats added a lot of volume to the collection, especially the ones with the wings on the back. Different materials altered each other in the designs like patchworks. Some were shiny other matte. The skirts were short, the pants tight.

Some outfits looked familiar, but they were always different from what Ghesquière’s has done before. For example the clothes with the colored stripes (pale blue, tangerine, brown, and aqua) showed some resemblance to Balenciaga’s last show. Only this time the colors were less bright (more pastel) than the ones Patricia van der Vliet and Mirte Maas wore in the ad for Balenciaga’s summer campaign. (The two Dutch girls did walk in today’s show, by the way.)

We thought the coats with wings on the back and the dresses with the multi-font slogans were very renewing and fit in with the scientific, computer- age collection just fine. It is with such pieces that Ghesquière’s showed how a designer can push his fashion boundaries while staying true to the values of his brand.

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