Rick Owens and Schiaparelli became neighbors on Thursday night, at least in terms of their shows, with both presenting punchy collections in adjoining buildings overlooking the Seine. Christopher Esber showed in the complex in the morning, and Time in a gothic church.
Schiaparelli: Paris Texas
Ride ‘em cowgirl. Daniel Roseberry went back to his youth in Texas this season and the result was his most concise and commercial collection for the house of Schiaparelli.
Though very much wild western, there was nothing hired-hand about these clothes. Instead, it was a notable meeting of big-country cool and Paris sophistication.
Gigi Hadid lassoed everyone’s rapt attention in the opening look – a brilliantly cut suit, with cattle baron pants, cowboy boots and a blazer topped with splayed fur collar. All souped up by alligator tail earrings, and gold-plated ring-master buckles.
Roseberry argued in his program notes that the women he knows and dresses “rarely, if ever, dress for women.” And you could see Hadid truly loved her look, for the authority and dominance it imparted.
A smoldering rodeo rider soon followed in white corset/T-shirt and slouchy black leather ranch-hand pants, three cowboy belts wrapped around her waist. She looked simply sensational.
A subsequent lady sheriff in houndstooth did reflect Schiap’s surrealist roots via the gargantuan shoulders. As did the anthracite jacquard opera coat or circle checked coats worn with rhinestone rings, Daniel showed for evening.
While a selection of figure-hugging dresses in snake scale effects, accessorized with huge evil eye and golden lock pendants caused a ripple of oohs and aahs from the three rows of guests. In a savvy move, Daniel has lightened up the hardware, a key element in his vision of Schiap’s brand DNA, making it easier to wear.
The models posing in front of several mirrored prosceniums on the desert-brown deep pile carpet runway. All driven on by a country and western soundtrack featuring Brandi Carlile and Lainey Wilson.
Before climaxing with the ideal final look: a trompe l’oeil alligator top with scalloped pearl trim over black leather ranch pants and triple belts with the largest buckle a horseshoe. Worn by this season’s favorite model Mona Tougaard, the Turco-Danish-Somali model who closed Chloé in the morning and Schiaparelli tonight.
Rick Owens: After-hours cardinal
The high priest of haute fashion Rick Owen served up his latest fashion ceremony just before Schiaparelli – a display of nomadic rock-god style.
Emphasizing that idea, Owen’s soundtrack was centered around a living peripatetic rock god, Iggy Pop, and his churning rock anthem, “Mass Production”.
Rick’s show invite was a black-and-white photo with him with a wheelie in a parking lot, underlining the roving rebel mood.
Owens’ overpowering idea for next winter were imperial collars that rose six inches above the shoulder. Seen on a whole plethora of bulbous white leather flight jackets; ecru pony akin bombers; plenipotentiary long coats and tough redingotes. Rick also broke new ground with a trio of Mille Feuilles leather jackets, sure to ignite a fresh trend.
His cast towering the audience in the show space of the Palais de Tokyo on the banks of the Seine. The current nerve center of Paris Fashion Week with over a dozen shows this season.
Every model shod in his signature Perspex heeled platform boots. Teetering somewhat as they toured the dusty runway. It all felt far away from Rick’s recent Cecil B. DeMille spectaculars, even if those shows took place 30 meters away in the art institute’s esplanade.
A sense of ancient ceremony, of a gathering of like minds to impart a message was ever present. Before an equally looming, platform-shod Rick took a languid bow. The after-hours cardinal of fashion bidding us to go in peace.
Christopher Esber: Tension and release from ANDAM winner
It felt like half of Paddington and Bondi Beach showed up for the Thursday show by Christopher Esber, the latest great hope of Australian fashion.
Esber’s career has been a slow boil for several years, and this show was billed as his break-out event. The young Australian won the ANDAM prize last July and scores of editors, influencers and fans of note sat on collapse school chairs at the show, held inside the Palais de Tokyo.
The set made into an undulating runway, with large curtains of muddy plastic– like a rusty tin warehouse in Parramatta – breaking up the view.
The clothes themselves were a testament to Esber’s designer chops. He clearly has plenty of talent, even if the multiplicity of ideas made the show unfocused.
What stood out were great technical taffeta skirts, fab leather ruched cocktails and frayed little black dresses. Esber is no slouch when it comes to draping, while his elephantine legged trousers had plenty of bravura.
But, the asymmetrical dresses and spangly cocktails all felt a little off kilter. And the show staging meant the cast kept disappearing before you barely had seen them, preventing the show from taking off.
Time: Korea’s latest happening brand
One brand worth paying attention to is Time, a Korean marque which unveiled a very concise collection of polished urban sportswear on Thursday.
Presented before a 50-meter-long photo of a desert landscape inside the College des Bernardins, a remarkable late gothic church on the Left Bank near Notre Dame.
Suggesting a Classic Road movie and a sense of exploration seen in the clothes, mainly smart modern outerwear for a woman on a journey. Composed of some cool parkas or hipster faux=fur great coats, matching them with soft knobby sweaters, and lots ribbed knits.
“A drive back to childhood,” was the title Time’s creative director Choi Jung gave to the collection.
Time’s brother brand is System. Both have shown in Paris for the past several seasons in Paris – each of them displaying very plausible and stylish clothes.
In a word, it is right time for Time.
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