FRENCH ACCENTS
An unmistakable note of PARISIAN CHIC defined the best spring collections. By Avril Mair
Three words sum up SS ’13: Style, substance, and seduction. You could thank Hedi Slimane for that. When the menswear designer was appointed creative director at Yves Saint Laurent, the fashion world expected more of his signature minimalism. Instead, he looked back at the label’s incredible archives from the 1970s—the skinny pants, the tuxedo jackets, the sheer blouses—and then gave it all a decadent rock ’n’ roll twist. The critics debated, but the buyers were convinced: These are clothes that women will want to wear.
Slimane wasn’t the only designer embracing a certain Parisian glamour this season. You can also witness it in the work of Raf Simons, whose triumphant Dior ready-to-wear debut saw the house’s femininity electrified by a daring new modernism.The codes are still there, of course— the refined tailoring, the Bar jacket, the full-skirted finale—but with a sleek and disciplined remix. A bell-shaped tux dress worn over shorts, a lean suit accessorised by a blood-red scarf tied at the neck: This is not minimalism as such, but these certainly are versatile, desirable, and softly feminine clothes. “The foundation of Dior is a reaction to restrictions,” says Simons. “I wanted to do that, too.”
This pragmatism—accompanied by a considered sensuality—was a theme that echoed throughout the Paris shows. It is no accident that Le Smoking, created by Monsieur Saint Laurent and immortalised by Helmut Newton (which should tell you everything about its powerful, androgynous allure), was found on the catwalks at Balmain and Lanvin, belted and sharp-shouldered or cropped and monochromatic, but always offering a little skin. A similar kind of tux dressing also showed up at Céline and Givenchy, stripped back to the bare bones of desire (Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz calls it ‘deconstructed classicism’), and its spirit saw designers take on other iconic pieces: The pencil skirt, the pleat-front trousers, and the pussybow blouse, another YSL standard. “Suggestion is seduction,” according to Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, whose Valentino show had the blouse as its centrepiece, contrasting puritanical white collars and cuffs with a delicious undercurrent of belle du
jour kink in sheer chiffon or nude, red, and black lingerieinspired leather. It is this spirit that they bring to the house —a subtle subversiveness that is key to Spring 2013.
Despite the seductive pull of new trends, the strongest wardrobe story this season is that of timeless shape worked with an easy, modern edge. Consider Balmain’s high-waist evening trousers, unexpectedly but impeccably tailored in black leather and worn with a simple, single-sole heel. Or look at Roland Mouret’s little black dress, where white flashes curve round the body in a flattering geometry. There are couturelike pencil skirts at Givenchy, deliciously split up the thigh; and leather-trimmed wool jackets at Chanel, cropped short and sweet. Whoever said that you can’t improve on a classic surely lied. Just look to Paris for proof.