+127 The Best Of PFW SS23
Acne Studios Look 9
Ah, and we save the best until last. Without further ado:
Victoria Beckham showcased plenty of fringing, in the form of handbags, skirts, vests, and dress embellishments. Why VB was showing in Paris instead of London, I don’t know, although I do feel there is a pressure of who speaks last, wins. Everybody seems to want to show at Paris Fashion Week, as though designers save the best until last. Soon, we will just have a Paris Fashion Month and do away with all the others, although I’m sure the French will chuck us out of the country, knowing how hectic Paris gets for two weeks a year (not counting Couture Week and Men’s Fashion Week – yikes).
Opened by the world’s most irritating figure, Kanye West, Balenciaga was set in what looked like muddy trenches. Oversize puffer jackets, tracksuits and oversize dad sneakers seemed to be the norm – but is that a surprise to anyone? As for shoes we saw platforms, ballet flats (in the mud – no!) and even a bedazzled pair of clogs. This season, Demna decided to do away with explaining his collections and let them speak for themselves. But what is he trying to say? Perhaps that after his A/W22 season in a swirling snowstorm of climate change grasping rubbish bags that it all turns to shit – or mud, really. The models had smeared faces, and all the clothes looked like they had been run over by a monster truck a fair few times. Apparently, it was a comment on what does luxury really mean? And is it worth it anyway? A little hypocritical considering he’ll be selling those severely distressed clothes for a pretty penny – and people will buy it too.
After last season’s impactful fuchsia, it’s no wonder Pier Paolo went the other way, and sent an amalgam of beiges, browns, and blacks down the runway as a contrast. Colour, when it appeared, was scarce and consciously placed; a skirt here, a coat there. Under it all showcased the designers love for technique – look no further than Look 18, a mini dress of beads with matching beaded tights and a beaded handbag. Hours of work for a dress that is both quietly impactful and hugely impressive. Dotted throughout were dresses and coats of the reiterated V, continued up into the facial makeup until the model is a walking pattern. Is this logomania’s parting goodbye?
Continuing on from last season’s Elizabethan subtle inspiration, Dior decided to fully commit this season, with voluminous skirts, corsetry, and a particularly apt blend of ballet shoes and platform boots. Crinolines and broderie anglaise, flowing sleeves and sheer shift petticoats, smocked waists falling into pleated skirts – how Jane Eyre of it all!
Saint Laurent was all about the maxis. Maxi dresses, maxi coats, maxi impact – but where’s the sex, you ask? You can’t have Saint Laurent without the sex! Which is why the maxi dresses are sheer. Ha! You thought they were simply knit maxi dresses! This isn’t Max Mara, my friends, this is YSL designed by Alexandre Vauthier. How could they be anything but sheer? As for the coats, they were very similar to those iconic coats from A/W19 (I have the black one, score) with the huge shoulder pads and sleek length, the only difference is there’s no belt tie. Small people (like myself), perhaps wear with a belt to make sure you don’t look like a little dwarf running around in a giant’s coat.
From Balmain’s latest collection, it’s clear to see he learned a thing or two in his time at Jean Paul Gaultier’s atelier. Forget sport chic glam and logo bodycon dresses – instead it’s a little more avant-garde: rattan bodies, woven silhouettes, swirling breasts, perfectly draped bodices and dresses, and corsets in all shapes and sizes. It feels like a new dawn for Balmain, like he’s rediscovered his potential. What a breath of fresh air, seeing exciting design for a designer who almost felt himself that he was past his peak. My only critique – did we really need 98 looks? Although for someone who seems like he’s rediscovered his love for what design can do, who am I to dampen his fire? Perhaps next season we’ll see him diverge from his JPG inspiration and strike out on his own. There’s a whole world out there.
If you’re not a fan of Loewe (as I often am), then at least there’s always something to talk about. Surprisingly, I really liked this collection, perhaps because the lily dresses reminded me of S/S22’s Fendi hairpieces (that never went into production – a missed opportunity). Puffy court shoes are reminiscent of Barbie high heels (I know you know), while other heeled pumps featured fringing? Pasta shapes? Macaroni? It’s had to tell, but all I know, is they had plenty of volume and texture to spare. Pixelated designs gave a new twist to the trompe de l’oeil trend, while draped lace looked like it was hung from the ceiling (think childhood mozzie nets). The lily was the main motif though, seen on dresses, bodices and shoes. Personally, I’m going for the white or green mini dress with a single lily covering the tit. 11/10!!!
Platforms are well and truly here to stay – almost everybody showcased them in some form. Even Hermès did platforms this year – albeit, in the form of flatform sandals, but platforms nonetheless.
Louis Vuitton supersized aspects of its collection. Think huge zippers, oversized buckles, and blown-up handbags reminiscent of @thebigbagclub on Instagram – just in real life! If they didn’t look like dolls enough (does it remind you of dressing up your barbies with clumsy fingers?), handbags shaped like delicate dolls houses were slung from hands.
Coperni’s S/S23 collection might not have been its very best, but that doesn’t mean the show wasn’t the talk of the entire season! My Instagram home page was scrolls and scrolls of reels of Bella Hadid strutting onto centre stage in nothing but a pair of briefs and high heels, only for scientist Dr. Manel Torres and his colleague to come out with spray guns filled with a mysterious liquid that began to cover Bella like Spiderman’s webs. Cut to five minutes later, and a design assistant came out to cut a split up the hem, tug the straps over the shoulders, and voilà! A perfectly contoured pure white dress conjured out of thin air – literally.