Rioting in the heart of Paris does not deter the haute couture collections with Chanel showing by the Seine
France’s civil unrest has not deterred the world’s leading luxury brands from showing their high fashion Fall-Winter 2023/24 collections in the city of light. Chanel led the more restrained mood with a pared back, patriotic presentation that put the spotlight on French savoir-faire.
In spite of the violence seen on the streets of Paris and across France this past week it hasn’t halted the haute couture shows – fashion’s highest spectacle of craftsmanship, savoir-faire and glamour bought by the world’s 1 per cent – from presenting as planned in the city of light. Many luxury houses have just resorted to boarding up their boutique windows each night.
For Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, it was important that the show go on.
“This week despite the situation that we have seen that is difficult, we have found our way of doing shows,” he explained before Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2023-24 presentation. For Chanel this meant a more low key set, by couture standards anyway, staged simply alongside the Seine, with the Tour Eiffel watching over proceedings. The pared-back, somewhat patriotic setting felt more respectful given the current turmoil facing France, compared with the flamboyant stagings of season’s past.
As for couture’s continued relevance?
“For us haute couture is important because it is all about the idea of the brand,” Pavlovsky continued. “Mademoiselle Chanel did haute couture, Karl [Lagerfeld] loved haute couture, Virginie [Viard, current creative director] is probably the best designer around today… It is pure creation, without any constraints.”
The show was opened by Gallic style icon Caroline de Maigret, while the collection itself was an ode to Parisienne modernity with Vanessa Paradis cast as muse.
“Playing with opposites and contrasts, with nonchalance and elegance, is like standing on a line between strength and delicacy, which, at Chanel, is what we call allure,” Viard explained. “If we’re in Paris and this time we’re in Paris itself, on the quayside. The street and the colourful paving stones call for both sophistication and simplicity.”
Both were felt through the collection’s breezy 1970s silhouettes, and elevated via its decoration and detailing that was drawn from 18th century still life paintings, which saw flowers and red fruits morph into the most intricate of embellishments. Femininity was at the fore, from tiered chiffon evening gowns to scalloped floral lace dresses that equally captured the free spirit of the decade. As for accessories, fresh faced models carried wicker fruit baskets filled with dried and fresh blooms – one even walked her Labrador pup – as two-tone Mary-Janes made light work of the cobblestones. Nods to the ’70s continued, with flared tweed trousers and billowing pussy cat blouses and even softly pleated skirt suits cut from kaleidoscopic sequined tweed and quilted molten gold silk.
For Australian actor and long-time Chanel ambassador Phoebe Tonkin it was perhaps her favourite show yet: “I loved the evening dresses with the tights and the Mary-Janes, the three-quarter capri pants, the Maison Michel hats, and the natural make-up pared back with these beautiful, elegant couture pieces. It was really chic and classic and how I would probably wear them as well.”
However, not everyone felt that the show must go on in Paris. Hedi Slimane’s scheduled Sunday night Celine menswear presentation was cancelled via the designer’s Instagram announcement: “A fashion show in Paris, while France and its capital are bereaved and bruised, seem from my own point of view, inconsiderate and totally out of place.”
Balenciaga has also cancelled its afterparty.
Elsewhere, Schiaparelli similarly steered away from controversy after Daniel Roseberry’s animalistic showcase last season. Instead, each look was inspired by an artist from Elsa Schiaparelli’s time, mid-century or present day.
Australian designer Tamara Ralph returned to the couture schedule with her new eponymous brand two years after Ralph & Russo’s collapsed into administration. Her solo debut followed on from her recent success dressing Queen Rania of Jordan for the King’s coronation. Then over at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri presented a modern collection focused around house archetypes – the tunic, the peplum and the cape, in a predominantly neutral palette of white, beige and metallics, which tapped into the more restrained mood of the couture season so far in Paris.