This mantra is one that has ruled many facets of my life. Now as I watch my late 20s fast approach, I realize that it lacks merit. It’s a statement that I've used as a crutch to avoid the failure that comes from taking chances.
Paris, as is its way, forced me again and again out of the safe zone that I love so much. That place that is comfortable and warm and filled with navies and dark denim and at least seven black dresses. (I gave myself only 30 seconds to think of the dresses. The number would have been higher if the entire minute had been used.)
There were those designers, as there always are in Paris, who took chances one didn't see in other cities.
At Gareth Pugh
At Haider Ackermann
At Balenciaga
On the day Alexander McQueen died, I was on my way home from a long day at work. Disconnected from the world at large as I had gone without access to my phone and computer, I was unaware that anything had changed as I trudged home and pulled out my cell phone. It was then that a friend told me, assuming that I already knew. It's weird to think that your life can be affected by the end of someone's who you've never met, but as I sat down later that week and thought of which shows had caused me to fall deeper and deeper in love with this world, three of the ten were McQueen. Only he could make chessboards and holograms and alien/sea creature amalgams at once beautiful, haunting and awe-inspiring. The pieces shown in Paris only displayed the kind of innovation we will be missing in future years.
The trends that dominated the previous fashion weeks were, of course, all over Paris as well. The minimalism that originated at Céline last season found its way onto almost every runway and in every city for Fall/Winter 2010.
Stella McCartney showed clothes that spoke of the season while also being seasonless. Pieces that will never find themselves in the far recesses of your closet.
Alber Elbaz at Lanvin took his exquisite hand to this trend as well. Sharp tailoring in muted colors reigned.
With the occasional flourish.
But no one really did it as well as Phoebe Philo did and continues to do.
Then there was of course the military...
At Junya Watanabe
At Isabel Marant
At Sophia Kokosalaki
The 70s..
At Kenzo
At Yves Saint Laurent
At Chloé
and the fur.
At Nini Ricci
At Costume National
Chanel featured a parade of girls stomping around an iceberg in their shaggy fake fur boots. Once one got past the spectacle of it all, there were beauties to be seen.
And like London before it, you'll only be needing one piece in Paris next fall.
At Chloé
At Hermès
At Giambattista Valli
Photos via
No comments:
Post a Comment