Yohji Yamamoto and Victoria Beckham

Thankfully, there is life outside of LVMH, notably at the great Japanese house of Yohji Yamamoto and at now booming Victoria Beckham – both of whom staged impressive shows on a very wet Friday evening in Paris.
 
Yohji Yamamoto: Fragmented fashion
Outside Paris City Hall there was a downpour of biblical proportions, inside under a giant gilded frescoed ceiling there was a moment of edgy grace from Yohji Yamamoto.

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A collection, made entirely of brand-new scraps, shards and leftovers of fabric, though none of them recycled. Black linen coat-dresses, chopped off at the sleeve, cut in varying lengths, and sewn together in rough stitching. Pleated professorial gowns, almost falling apart; worn with hand-painted leggings. Splendid morning coats with satin lapels, their shoulders chopped the better to let satin bows sprout. Ruffled damsel in distress dresses all held together with huge knots.
 
A dark vision but a beautiful one, fragments thrown together to create heroic characters. Nearly all made in black, except for a ghostly washed-out white lace bouffant gown made of rivulets of chiffon. 

The cast made up with bulky unspooling courtesans’ wigs, and numerous plaits, walking slowly underneath the opulent golden chandeliers.  The concept telegraphed by Yamamoto’s invitation – broken shards of plastic mirrors scattered over a large black sheet.
 
In a dark moment in the planet, Yohji’s most disturbing visions in seasons.
 
All backed up by a live piano recital before Yamamoto sang a rock ballad of his own composition. Leading to an all-red finale, suddenly all slimline sleeveless coat dresses. After which, Yohji took his bow, beckoning the pianist onto the catwalk to share the applause, the audience’s clapping turning into prolonged cheers.
 
Not, arguably, a vintage Yohji shows but a moment of bedraggled elegance after a day in the madding crowd of Paris.
 

Victoria Beckham: Bold in the Bagatelle

Madame Beckham keeps upping her game, especially this season, with the biggest show of her career under the stars in the grounds of Château de Bagatelle.

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Guests braving the rain to sit under a huge cathedral like transparent tent in a garden that was the same location of one of John Galliano’s greatest couture shows for Dior in the late nineties. Gallants serving spicy margaritas as the audience gathered in the chilly air, many wrapped in green and beige Victoria Beckham blankets, thoughtfully provided by the host.
 
The elegant setting underlining Beckham’s steady rise in quality and presentation since she linked up with top ranked French management and her new partners Neo.
 
Eva Longoria showed up, as did Victoria’s by-now celebrity kids. But the acid test this season was whether this event would pass muster with the French critical establishment.
 
Victoria’s design self-confidence is clearly growing as she took plenty of risks. Not all of them worked, but their very presence elevated the collection.
 
Moreover, in a moment where many talented designers are creating clothes that stand away from the body, Beckham had some of the coolest examples. Opening with perfectly cut long trousers, always a great VB staple, but this season finished with a shirt collar waistband, or cut open vertically.  All topped by sculpted and scrunched tops made in mixes of silk mousseline or technical viscose. Rigid bodice dresses morphed into flowing chiffon. 
 
Then VB hit several home runs with some great flowing dresses in floral camouflage print. And a bias-cut red-carpet dress in emerald green worn by Gigi Hadid.
 
In terms of tailoring, she also broke new ground with white wide jerkins worn without skirts or pants; and some neat futurist surgeon’s smocks. Or with cinched power-shoulder jean jackets worn with elephantine pants – all in pale gray.
 
Not all her experiments with semi-sheer came off, and the styling trick of putting many new handbags in mesh sacks seemed forced. Moreover, the two final looks, transparent dresses finished with swathes of sequins were real clangors. Sadly, leaving the final model like a lost soul traipsing 30 meters behind at the finale.
 
That said, even if not glitch free, this was still an impressive statement, where one left feeling that Victoria Beckham had truly arrived at the clubhouse of respected brands on Paris catwalks. 
 
No mean achievement, bien sur.