Spotlight on young designers in Paris with Niccolò Pasqualetti, Duran Lantink, Ottolinger

Paris Fashion Week Women is drawing to a close, but continues to feature interesting surprises. On Sunday, the spotlights were trained on several emerging labels which are soldiering on despite the tough economic environment, and winning over audiences with their boundless creativity. Starting with Niccolò Pasqualetti, on his maiden Parisian show, followed by Duran Lantink and Ottolinger.
 

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Niccolò Pasqualetti, making his official debut on the Parisian calendar, opened the day with a very fine collection, showcasing a chic yet subtly subversive wardrobe. All the looks were impeccably cut and constructed, with the occasional clever idea thrown in. None of the garments actually was what it looked at first sight. A classic pleated wrap skirt turned out to be asymmetric, alternating thick and thin pleats. It was also worn as a bare-shoulder top and as a linen dress. A pretty corset was left unfinished at the back, which simply consisted of fabric triangle with unstitched hem.

The look of a simple pair of cotton trousers changed completely, depending on whether they were worn with plastic overtrousers or black tulle ones. Oversize shirt dresses became even larger when layered and slipped one over the other. A pearly gilet was worn like a plastron over a white shirt. A thick belt-chain woven through some of the garments, like a finely knitted sweater, could be removed and worn as a necklace. Pasqualetti also presented a new white cotton version of his signature trousers skirt, whose front is cut horizontally to form the skirt.

“I work with ordinary fabrics in a couture spirit. I usually start with classic models but then introduce unusual architectures, asymmetries, and de-constructed details, in order to offer a very wide range of options with unique items. The looks are often ambiguous, not immediately identifiable,” Pasqualetti told FashionNetwork.com. At the show, he launched his label’s first jewellery collection, made with natural materials and inspired by the sculptures of Jean Arp.

Pasqualetti, 29, was born in Tuscany, in San Miniato, where his atelier is based, and produces all his garments in Italy. He graduated in media and fashion studies at Venice University, then did a master’s at Central Saint Martins in London, while also working as an assistant at The Row for a year. He then moved to Paris to work at Loewe, where he stayed for three years before taking the plunge and founding his own label in 2021.

“I was initially attracted by art, by the notion of images, colours and aesthetics. Later, I felt the need to forge my own path, where I could express myself creating items I couldn’t find elsewhere on the market. I always start from my personal memories, from my parents’ rather traditional style,” concluded Pasqualetti who, after this successful debut, seems to have a promising future ahead of him.

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The register was different at Duran Lantink, which once again immersed its audience in a wacky, unusual atmosphere, with its decidedly playful fashion and a surprise guest, Naomi Campbell, who brought the colourful show to a close with her customary panache. In his third show on the official Parisian calendar, Lantink continued to work on shapes, introducing rounded volumes that redefined the silhouette with an array of soft curves.

For example, Lantink incorporated knee and elbow pads, like strange bumps growing haphazardly, into stretch jumpsuits. Some models’ breasts looked swollen, aimed like mortar shells at the sky in push-up bras and cropped tops. The shoulders in a floral sweater were raised beyond the ears. Turbans were rolled around heads making them seem unusually oblong, with a Queen of Sheba vibe. In some cases, the turban was replaced by an oval handbag, the handle set under the chin.

For next summer, Lantink had fun playing with optical effects, notably by featuring a series of skintight jumpsuits in thin red and white stripes, alternately horizontal, vertical and diagonal. In the same material, he presented tight shorts looking like a retro swimsuit fitted with a life ring. Among Lantink’s other quirky summer ideas, sunglasses fashioned out of swimming goggles, Napoleon-style cocked hats, briefs incorporated into petticoats, and chair covers made of wooden beads, which he used to make dresses and miniskirts.

The collection was enhanced by sumptuous, tribal-style silver body jewellery, created by US artist Kris Ruhs, renowned for having styled the look of Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como.

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Ottolinger breathed a similarly fresh creative air into its energetic collection for next summer, reconnecting with its passion for the experimental, having adopted a more formal register in the last two seasons. The collection featured again the organic aesthetic preferred by Swiss designers Cosima Gadient and Christa Bösch, alongside their usual research on materials and a plethora of laces, strips and other frayed appendages giving a tattered look to dresses and sweater-coats. Plus plenty of cut-outs, adding to the looks’ chaotic feel.

From the depths of Switzerland, Gadient and Bösch have been dreaming of summer holidays, sunshine and beaches stretching as far as the eye can see. They had their models walk out of a huge shark’s maw, like catastrophe-surviving heroines in a blockbuster movie. With their perfectly coiffed curls, huge sunglasses and tight-fitting surfer-style outfits, they could have been mistaken for characters straight out of Baywatch.