FASHION Magazine
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Spring 2014 Couture Report: Butterflies, lions and Dita Von Teese close out a week of surprises in Paris
Photography by Peter Stigter See the Spring 2014 Couture images »
Photography by Peter Stigter
Photography by Peter Stigter
Photography by Peter Stigter
Photography by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage
Photography by Peter Stigter
Could the couture runways be any more bi-polar? Whereas yesterday’s recap brought forth a list of trends to watch in the coming months, today’s recap proves we’ll always be guessing.
The final day of Spring 2014 Couture Fashion Week in Paris started with everything in the junk drawer piled on one outfit at Maison Martin Margiela and ended with pale, barren latex at Viktor & Rolf.
The latter, worn by ballerinas drifting en pointe from one end of a square runway to the other, were sometimes printed with tattoo-like birds and ruffles. At the end of the performance, an ad for the duo’s new fragrance, Bonbon, revealed the scent housed in a pink bow bottle. The scent’s face, model Edita Vilkeviciute, wears nothing but painted-on pink bows.
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They said/We said: The details on Valentino’s fairytale hit and Azzedine Alaïa’s super-secret show
Left: Valentino Couture shot by Peter Stigter. Right: Azzedine Alaïa shot by Julien Hekimian/Getty Images. Couture Week in Paris came to a close today with Azzedine Alaïa showing his first presentation in ages. As we’ve been reporting, the past few days have been marked with highs (Givenchy) and lows (Dior). Regardless, the overall messages of unabashed luxury and attention to detail, inherent to haute dressing, were unanimously heard loud and clear from the handful of couturiers who showed.
It was a success story at Valentino, where designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli made a solid argument for the relevance of couture. The collection was inspired by the flight of the Russian aristocracy after the breakout of revolution, but it sometimes felt more like a medieval fantasy. Sheer, light fabrics, gilded ornamentation, and house signatures such as vibrant red, bows, and lace felt youthful not stuffy, proving that haute couture can still be fresh and exciting when modernized.
At Alaïa, things were more secretive. Showing during an organized fashion week isn’t usually the designer’s style, and today’s presentation wasn’t an occasion to attract endless media attention. Images of the clothing have yet to be released, however Jeanne Beker described strict lines, croc coats, and some pieces in Mongolian lamb. If the move towards exclusivity sounds strange in today’s world of democratized fast fashion, it does make sense in terms of couture’s traditional exclusive nature, only being accessible to a select few. Despite the scant media coverage, big names like Kanye West, Donatella Versace, and Sofia Coppola were in attendance. You can bet there were no members of Vogue present as Alaïa’s feud with Anna Wintour rages on.
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