Despite the climate of silent uncertainty that the coronavirus phenomenon has also spread in the world of fashion, Paris fashion week has not let itself be overshadowed, sending some of the most elaborate prêt-à-porter collections of the last few years onto the catwalk. The skilful and amazing use of latex in the Saint Laurent fashion show did not go unnoticed, nor did the modernist impetus of Hermès whose fall-winter 2020 is a hymn of Mondrian-style graphic and minimalist art. If there was an imaginary podium with which to elect the most interesting collections, perhaps the triad of Margiela, Loewe and Balmain would fill it. What put these three brands together was to have brought an introspective and personal approach to the catwalk, supported by an accentuated craftsmanship.
In Balmain‘s Fall-Winter 2020 there is all the essence of Olivier Rousteing, young and prodigious creative director of the Maison: the show stages an equestrian-borgeouis style and alludes to the search for the identity of the designer, whose origins mix between Ethiopia, Somalia and France are the inspiration for this woman, a modern amazzone whose cultural melting pot also represents a stylistic richness.
For Loewe, the highly sensitive creative Jonathan Anderson has decided to enhance craftsmanship and a sense of abstraction by collaborating with the Japanese ceramist Takuro Kuwata – finalist of the Loewe Craft Prize 2018 – giving life to a womanswear collection with unusual, flat and voluminous shapes. “I was trying to create new types of silhouettes that can work in an abstract world,” said the creative director in the backstage. “I like the idea of creating a totemic look,” he continued, describing it as “a fashion silhouette – daring and experimental”.
Finally, the formidable work brought on the catwalk by John Galliano for Margiela. For the Maison Margiela fall-winter 2020 collection, the designer expands the house’s codes by introducing “Recicla” which symbolizes the reuse of some selected garments brought back to life, following the trail of the existing Replica concept used to define the reproduction of pieces vintage within the collections. The new pieces bear the white Recicla label – indicating origin and period – and are nothing more than limited edition garments or accessories, intended for sale. To draw even more attention to this collection were the sneakers born from the collaboration with Reebok, a new model that hybridizes Margiela’s iconic Tabi with the Instapump.
