Haute Couture Week 2023: Prime 10 highlights

Written by Samantha Tse, CNNParis

CNN Fashion is likely one of the official media companions of Paris Style Week and Haute Couture Week. See all protection right here.
Whereas temperatures in Paris hit under or close to freezing, editors, celebrities and influencers wrapped themselves up in balaclavas, blanket scarves and massive coats prepared for one of the opulent affairs on the style calendar: Haute Couture Week.
There was controversy at Schiaparelli, an ode to celebrated American-born French performer Josephine Baker at Dior and the return of Casey Cadwallader for Mugler after a three-year absence from the runway. Though Cadwallader’s assortment was ready-to-wear, the high-octane present was paying homage to Thierry Mugler’s performance-driven runways within the Nineteen Eighties and 90s.

“It was a ballsy transfer to point out throughout couture week,” Cadwallader instructed CNN after the catwalk presentation, including: “Mugler is to not be quiet. Mugler is to be daring and thrilling, to have drama and do one thing iconic once more.”

Scroll all the way down to learn essentially the most talked about moments from the couture runways.

Schiaparelli’s huge cat controversy

Shalom Harlow’s robe featured a roaring snow leopard bursting out the bust. Credit score: Courtesy Schiaparelli

It was a roaring begin to Haute Couture Week when Kylie Jenner’s lion-head robe went viral. Handmade from foam and resin, the hyper-realistic beheaded lion was a part of Daniel Roseberry’s newest assortment for Schiaparelli (Irina Shayk wore a model of Jenner’s gown simply moments after friends took their seats). The label additionally debuted two extra predator-inspired items on the runway, from the 14th-century poem Dante’s “Inferno:” a lion, leopard and she-wolf. Shalom Harlow modeled a column gown that includes the snow leopard, whereas Naomi Campbell wore a shiny black coat full with the protruding wolf’s head.

However the appears had been so convincingly constructed, many took to social media to precise their misery. It was all a part of the plan nevertheless, in response to Roseberry, who wrote within the present notes that the confusion was intentional: “Mimicry (is that an actual lion?) turns into its personal type of Surrealism on this assortment, such that you just’re by no means fairly certain who made the piece you are —was it nature?”

Dior’s kiss curls

Maria Chiuri Grazia was inspired by 1920s dancer Josephine Baker.

Maria Chiuri Grazia was impressed by Nineteen Twenties dancer Josephine Baker. Credit score: Dior

Because the label’s first feminine inventive director, ladies’s empowerment is a long-held theme in Maria Chiuri Grazia’s designs. This season, she was proven gentle on singer and dancer Josephine Baker in a set that had a distinctly Nineteen Twenties sensibility. With the present’s hair theme designed by Guido Palau, the period’s “kiss curls” delicately framed faces in a nod to Baker’s fashion and had been the proper accompaniment to the gathering’s bias-cut robes and layered fringe detailing.

The Chanel bride emerged from an elephant

Giant mobile cardboard animals filled the runway at the Chanel show.

Big cellular cardboard animals stuffed the runway on the Chanel present. Credit score: Kristy Sparow/Getty Photographs

Animals had been a theme at Chanel too, the place they got here within the type of summary cardboard creations that peppered the runway. Virginie Viard drew from Coco Chanel’s residence, whose treasure trove of bestiary motifs knowledgeable the gathering. Viard tapped artist Xavier Veilhan for a 3rd time to create the cellular set that included horses, lions and an elephant from which Anna Ewers emerged because the label’s storied bride sporting a brief, delicate chiffon gown cinched on the waist and a swallow-stitched veil.

Iris Legislation closed the Alexandre Vaulthier present

Iris Law closed the show at Alexandre Vaulthier.

Iris Legislation closed the present at Alexandre Vaulthier. Credit score: Courtesy Alexandre Vauthier

Daughter of British actors Jude Legislation and Sadie Frost, Iris Legislation additional added to her trend credentials when she closed the Alexandre Vaulthier present sporting a black figure-hugging gown with pink trompe l’oeil sequin detailing and supersized puff sleeves. Her cropped blonde hair — now her signature look — gave the elevated little black gown an edge. “Emily in Paris” star’ Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu applauded enthusiastically from the entrance row throughout the finale the place Legislation was the final mannequin to go away the runway.

Stylish clowns at Giorgio Armani Privé

Harlequin diamonds were all the rage at the Armani Privé show.

Harlequin diamonds had been all the fad on the Armani Privé present. Credit score: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Photographs

Extra usually related to clowns than high fashion, Harlequin diamonds got a glow up on the Giorgio Armani Privé present. The maestro took the standard rhombus and elevated it by quilting them into velvet jackets and silk clothes, embellishing them with crystals that adorned eveningwear and as lace detailing on skirt hems. Whereas the harlequin motif is commonly seen in harsh monochrome, Armani used a softer palette of lilac, purple, slate and sage.

Subverting gown codes at Viktor and Rolf

Doja Cat's oversized suit and eyelash mustache caused a stir at the Viktor & Rolf runway.

Doja Cat’s outsized go well with and eyelash mustache induced a stir on the Viktor & Rolf runway. Credit score: Marc Piasecki/WireImage/Getty Photographs

There could have been upside-down clothes at Viktor and Rolf, nevertheless it was Doja Cat’s gender-bending mustached look that induced the largest stir. After being criticized on-line for not sporting lashes together with her viral head-to-toe crystal have a look at Schiaparelli, Doja Cat clapped again by turning up on the present with glued falsies over her eyebrows, above her lip and on her chin. On her Instagram account, she playfully posted “If lashes are what you all need, then lashes are what you may get.”

Haider Ackermann’s couture debut for Jean Paul Gaultier

Ackermann was inspired by Gaultier's passion for human rights.

Ackermann was impressed by Gaultier’s ardour for human rights. Credit score: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Photographs

Haider Ackermann was the forth designer invited to current a set for Jean Paul Gaultier since 2020, and the outcome was a love letter to the elder couturier with political undertones. Giving a nod to Gaultier’s combat for human rights, Ackermann used the couture runway to spotlight the combat for ladies’s rights in Iran. Whereas fashions walked the runway, their names had been whispered by a spoken phrase soundtrack punctuated by Iranian artist Shervin Hajipour’s track “Baraye.” Hajipour’s track was a response to the brutal killing of Mahsa Amin final 12 months and the next combat for ladies’s rights within the nation.

Heels off at Valentino

Kristen McMenamy walked the Valentino catwalk barefoot after tripping over her stilettos.

Kristen McMenamy walked the Valentino catwalk barefoot after tripping over her stilettos. Credit score: Courtesy Valentino

Even essentially the most seasoned fashions can take a tumble. Kristen McMenamy, who was modeling a densely-embellished strapless column gown with pink opera gloves, had been struggling to stroll in her vertiginous black stilettos when she fell to her knees on the runway. Entrance row friends ran to assist the veteran mannequin however like a real skilled she took the footwear off, obtained up and triumphantly completed strolling the runway barefoot. Movies of her fall have since gone viral, amassing over two thousands and thousands views on TikTok and reveals McMenamy throwing the offending footwear off the facet of the runway.

Lowkey fur at Fendi

Lace took center stage at the Fendi show.

Lace took heart stage on the Fendi present. Credit score: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Photographs

Fur — one in all Fendi’s trademark supplies — was barely used within the Italian label’s Spring-Summer season 2023 assortment. Moderately, Kim Jones explored the notion of lightness, each in its fabrication and the styling. Lace was a robust focus, from detailing throughout bodices and hems, to complete robes manufactured from the intricate materials. However upon nearer look, a few of the “lace” was truly leather-based with intricate cut-outs or minute beads meticulously strung collectively to seem like netlike.

The Supers returned to the Mugler stage

Original Mugler muses Eva Herzigova and Debra Shaw closed the Mugler ready-to-wear catwalk.

Authentic Mugler muses Eva Herzigova and Debra Shaw closed the Mugler ready-to-wear catwalk. Credit score: Victor Boyko/Getty Photographs

After a three-year absence, Casey Cadwallader made his return to the runway with an extravaganza that paid homage to Thierry Mugler’s flamboyant couture reveals. Though the ready-to-wear assortment wasn’t on the official calendar, it was a spectacular near the season as supermodels Irina Shayk, Shalom Harlow and Amber Valetta, walked alongside 90s Mugler muses Debra Shaw and Eva Herzigova — closing the present by posing in entrance of the pit of photographers, identical to they might have completed within the 90s.

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