FLIGHTS OF FANTASY

REBIRTH, BEAUTY AND ESCAPISM — JING ZHANG DEEP DIVES INTO HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTIONS DEBUTED THIS SUMMER

Paris in July would usually be a flurry of fashion weeks – first the menswear shows, then haute couture with the likes of Chanel, Christian Dior, Viktor&Rolf and Armani Privé hosting millionaire clients and star-studded front rows for the runway. That’s obviously not happened this year as Paris Haute

Couture fashion week went digital for the first time.

Although designers, studios and ateliers have all returned to work, it’s impossible to ignore the great big reset in the world of style. This year has seen retail disrupted, big shows cancelled, events limited and international travel at a standstill. And since couture represents the epitome of beautiful, made-to-measure clothing (accessible to just a handful of the 1 percent), it can also be confronting in another way. How easily does the ultimate in bespoke fashion and fantasy sit alongside a world pushing for more democratic access to creativity?

The craft, heritage, workers and ateliers involved in creating these gowns still hold relevance, however. Haute couture still represents the epitome of clothing. It corners the notion of ultimate fantasy, extreme beauty, painstaking craft and, yes, a great emotional escape – the latter being much needed right now.

Couture designers are indeed inviting us to dream, inspiring our imaginations to run wild. Instead of traditional shows and celebrity front rows, we have films – arguably a format that reveals another dimension to the brands, depending on how creative they choose to be. And we still have the beautiful designs, the dreamlike dresses and, this season, extra lashings of fantasy. Here’s our pick of the top five Paris autumn/winter 2020/21 haute couture