Sensational is the word to best embody the most recent fall/winter fashion season, where the world bore witness to an integration of elegance and audacity amidst the amplification of current fashion fancies. The culmination of the season was marked by the all-loved Paris Fashion Week – the dazzling nine-day finale in the ultimate fashion city featured outings from eminent houses as well as independent designers.
This time around in Paris, a facet that stood out was the enduring quest for elegance; no colour seems more effective for this than black, or as the French call it, noire. With that thought in mind, labels painted the runways in the powerful colour – some ensembles appeared wholly glazed in black while some were embellished with traces of it. So, as it then played out, Paris Fashion Week asserted the influence of black upon fashion as a colour that simply knows how to bewitch; whether it be in the past, the present or the coming future, black is entwined with the vogue.
Behold, our pick of fashion brands that employed the noire tone with couture flair:
Valentino
The gilded parlour of the majestic centuries-old Pozzo di Borgo mansion turned stage for the Italian luxury house’s ‘Le Noir’ fashion display. Flaunting an all-black collection, the Maison experimented with a variety of styles: trapeze skirts, loose wrap shirts and zipped leather jackets were amongst the pieces displayed, adorned with the brand’s hallmarks of rosettes, ruffles and lace. Sculptural quality was attributed to the shapes through crêpe and velvet fabrics, while sheer chiffon veiled the models’ skin with ease. Honouring Valentino’s signature structured tailoring, the collection reintroduced the brand’s classic silhouettes and classic lines with more daring and sharpness.
Junya Watanabe
Sculptures and shapes dominated the expanse in Japanese designer Junya Watanabe’s show – it goes without saying that every look was fabricated to mesmerise. Drawing ideas from the materials and cuts of sculptures, Watanabe reimagined his fascination with the art form into avant-garde fashion rooted in the black hue. Prominent elements of the collection included enlarged black vinyl triangles and other 3-D shapes – one model donned a ruffled leather skirt held unevenly bound bands which was paired with a turtleneck and striking pointy shoulders. Another memorable look was a long-sleeved black dress with floral prints encased within a conspicuous geometric cage. Watanabe masterfully explored the realms of art and fashion, his show acting as an attempt at bridging these realms.
Cecilie Bahnsen
The forbidden apple took the centre stage at Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen’s ‘The Bite’, manifesting in a green large-scale sculpture of the fruit. Think, an ordinary apple that encapsulates desire and strength, and then, how a bite of into it symbolises growing up, soon transporting one away from naivety and sweetness. In Palais de Tokyo, Bahnsen accents this newfound maturity – swapping out her usual coquette-y whimsical wonder, she put in its place an inky collection with more edge comprising pieces in new fabrics and outlines.
A momentous depth of her exploration in femininity, the collection is composed of designs – mostly dresses – of short, voluminous shapes, enriched with transparent layers and oversized knits. Balancing high glossed leather with delicate organza, Bahnsen depicts a much-welcome diversity; the collection flaunts floral motifs and fancy ruffles, a nod to the exquisiteness of romance. Subdued luxury and everydayness come together in Bahnsen’s sable fairytale collection.
Hermès
For the French Maison, black was a faultless allusion to the world of motorcycling which served as the heart of the collection as well as a personal memory for designer Nadège Vanhée, a former biker. To breathe life into this concept, the space was fully sheathed – from the ceiling to the floor – in black, paired with a backcloth of simulated rain running through to capture the rough conditions faced during the biking act. The collection was rooted extensively in leather and appeared in shielding silhouettes, all while remaining true to the Hermès charm.
An affair as sophisticated as it was cool, the show featured arrays such as a funnel jacket materialising from a calfskin jumpsuit, a studded split skirt worn together with a cropped jacket and knee-high boots as well as a soft-printed dress with smocked waists. Surprising the runway with a collection inspired by riding sports, Hermès’ novel oeuvre is destined to be à la mode this season.
Featured image by lamodeenimages on Instagram.