Haute Couture SS17: Wrap Up
Haute Couture has forever been a dream world of inspiration, built by fashion house’s whose collections and shows are the zenith of fantastical; a showcase of fashion’s most intricate, ambitious and magical creations. Haute Couture presentations are the days that shapes fashion for months, years, and even decades, to come, as artistic minds conceive the inconceivable and unbound craftsmanship conjures the reality.
Opening in Paris with Schiaparelli’s awe-evoking show at the brand’s Place Vendome atelier, the SS17 season has been a master class in innovation. Collections have juxtaposed sheer opulence with utter degradation; explored nuances from the past to predicate the future, and delved deep into the realms of art and technology.
We bring you the SS17 Haute Couture season highlights and triumphs from the world’s foremost fashion houses.
ATELIER VERSACE
Metamorphosis, or “the beauty of transformation” to quote Donatella Versace herself, provided a depth of inspiration that went beyond the garments for the house’s SS17 collection, as the infamous designer abandoned its traditional berth in favour of a private appointment on the second floor of her Avenue Montaigne boutique.
Drawing on four themes – knots, pleats, organic and metal – 17 ethereal pieces hung from theatrically spotlighted mannequins, in yet another deviation from the house’s usual extravagancies.
But where the presentation and the colour palette, which was limited to metallic pinks, greys and darkened silver, may have been restrained, the artistry was not, as Versace threw the work of her ateliers into ever greater focus, with spellbinding results: a shimmering goddess dress crafted using 10-and-counting knotting techniques; a ball gown laden with 110 metres of Swarovski crystals, and a bodice of snakeskin scales that morphed into a plumage of feathers.
SCHIAPARELLI
If ever the meeting of art and fashion had to be defined as single entity, surely Elsa Schiaparelli’s iconic lobster dress, created with surrealist artist and friend Salvador Dali, would immediately spring to mind.
And for Schiaparelli’s Design Director, Bertrand Guyon, it seems both the impact of surrealism and of the house’s revered founder have left an indelible mark on its SS17 collection. Designs revisited the signature lobster dress, with Guyon introducing inserts alongside menswear jacket silhouettes and splices of Asian influence in a historic tribute to Schiaparelli’s early work.
IRIS VAN HERPEN
There are few designers as experimental in their creative outlook and output as Iris van Herpen – a preceding reputation that was only reinforced in our interview with the Dutch designer on her AW16 Haute Couture collection, Seijaku.
Seemingly limitless in her ability to unite fashion and technology, van Herpen’s latest collection, Between the Lines, was a visceral visual experience founded on optical illusions.
For the 16-piece collection, van Herpen enlisted the talent of Ester Stocker, a Berlin-based artist renowned for her mastery and manipulation of space to guile the mind into making connections that aren’t really there. Together, the duo brought illusion to life through distorted monochrome patterns on synthetic fabrics and avant-garde 3D printing techniques, in a presentation intent on showcasing the unimaginable.
CHRISTIAN DIOR
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s debut Haute Couture collection for Christian Dior was presented in stark contrast to those of her predecessor; a fairytale aesthetic defined by romantic flowing dresses, whimsical floral accessories and the feminisation of Dior’s signature Bar jackets – reimagined as capes and teamed with lace tops, pleated skirts and wide-leg, ankle-length culotte trousers.
Like the collection’s labyrinthine inspiration, the craftsmanship was overwhelmingly intricate, yet, these were ‘wearable’ pieces, designed, Chiuri attests, to bring an air of naturalism to the fantasy of couture; an ambition that perhaps determined her decision to stage the show amid a lush garden setting at Musée Rodin.
CHANEL
Crazy femininity reigned supreme in Karl Lagerfeld’s SS17 Haute Couture collection, as structured shoulders met with defined waists and accentuated hips to create a powerful silhouette, which lent itself to designs that played with trompe l’oeil.
In a setting that fulfilled Lagerfeld’s ambition to “transpose the ambience of 31 Rue Cambon, without copying every detail”, models first stalked the mirrored circular runway wearing delicate tweed suits tailored and draped effortlessly to melt into tulip skirts, creating the illusion of a dress-coat.
As the show moved into eveningwear, Lagerfeld’s designs swept from pared-back chic into a sophisticated lavishness; forms swathed in tulle, lace, foliage and endless feathers.
VIKTOR&ROLF
Conscious design is a continuing quest for fashion artists Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, as they told fluoro ahead of their current exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, and one which they explore through the imaginative upcycling of existing elements in their SS17 collection.
Utilising vintage cocktail and eveningwear from various decades as their base material, the duo dissect and reassemble the fragments, accentuating the fissures with gold to create a surreal collage that symbolises the beauty found in imperfection. The shapes are an extraordinary breed of asymmetrical; simultaneously moulded to the body and voluminous, with silhouettes emphasised through the blend of a paler colour palette and jewel burgundy, raspberry and green.
While cast with the endemic beauty and craftsmanship we have come to expect from Paris, the designs presented for SS17 are evident of a transient time in Haute Couture, as tradition fully opens itself up to the progressive ideas that are set to redefine fashion as we know it. Reimagined, repurposed and revolutionary.
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