IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS
I’m writing this from Paris Fashion Week. (I realise that I start with that disclaimer in every April and October issue, I think partly to apologise in advance for whatever jet-lagged, fash-fatigued drivel I may be about to present to you, and partly in the hope that I get some recognition for the incredible sacrifice I must be making by dragging myself away from yet another delicious French pastry to sit inside a hotel room and do my job.) When most people think of fashion week, they think of the shows – huge runway productions on crazy sets (see Chanel’s enchanted woods built inside the Grand Palais, complete with tree roots and crunchy autumn leaves underfoot) that feature celebrities (see Elle Fanning channelling Amy Winehouse at Miu Miu), supermodels (see Kaia Gerber, everywhere) and the odd severed head or baby dragon (see Gucci). Much of what happens at fashion week, though, goes on between the shows. Parties, of course, but also meetings – so many meetings that sometimes it feels like the whole industry is running itself from the lobby bars of Le Bristol/le Meurice/the Plaza Athénée – and showroom re-sees, where the collections presented on the runway the day before are on display for editors to touch and feel, decide what we might want to put in the pages or on the cover, and generally “ooh” and “aah” over. Importantly, it’s also where we get a sneak peek of all the accessories that will be released for that particular season, the shoes and bags (and also the belts, costume jewellery and hats, but mostly the shoes and bags) that will, in many ways, end up defining the season.
More and more, accessories are where it’s at, both for the designers, because this is where they make their money, and the women they’re selling to, because as we all know, shoes and bags make an instant statement, always fit regardless of the time in your cycle or your pastry intake, and let you update your look for the new season even if the rest of you can barely get out of leggings most days (see our essential athleisure update on p58). This season, I saw lots of ready-to-wear looks that I can’t wait to put in the pages of ELLE, but it’s Céline’s cross-body purses, Saint Laurent’s chunky platform boots and Dior’s D-buckled belt I know you’ll be putting on your actual shopping lists immediately.
Whether you’re shoe mad or a handbag aficionado (and we know you’re one or the other, if not both), I’m leaving Paris this season determined that you’re going to be seeing more accessories in ELLE’S pages than ever before, so start from “Get In Line” on p110, and stay tuned.