CRYSTAL CATWALK

Watch the sparks fly between Swarovski and some of our favorite fashion houses with these glimmering runway collaborations.

Alexander McQueen s/s 1999

Thanks to an introduction from English fashion icon Isabella Blow, Alexander McQueen and Swarovski collaborated for the first time in 1999, with the jewelry house providing crystals and crystal mesh for the designer’s groundbreaking s/s collection. This initial collaboration also led to the birth of The Swarovski Collective, which aims to push the boundaries of crystal use in fashion. Since then, the collective has collaborated with over 150 fashion designers, including Proenza Schouler, Rodarte and Alexander Wang. Jean Paul Gaultier f/w 2013 couture

“Woman as Predator” was the central theme of Jean Paul Gaultier’s f/w 2013 couture collection, where the designer used 1.8 million Swarovski crystals for his powerful feline looks. Case in point: The Xenia dress, a beautifully embellished leopard-patterned cocktail dress made from transfer motifs on crystal mesh and worn over a noir mink coat, is the cat’s meow. Hussein Chalayan s/s 2007

In this highly conceptual collection, Hussein Chalayan revealed a series of “transformer dresses” — animatronic Swarovski-crystallized garments morphed and reconfigured to reveal changes in design through the decades. As a nod to the crystal company’s 111th anniversary, Chalayan also embellished the dresses with Swarovski crystals from different eras and used a crystal watermill as the show’s backdrop. Schiaparelli f/w 2017 couture

More is more at the f/w 2017 Haute Couture show in Paris, where Schiaparelli creative director Bertrand Guyon introduced the Crystal² dress, an innovative garment featuring Swarovski’s Crystal Fine Mesh embellished with, well, even more Swarovski crystals. Mutlicolored pavé crystals are fashioned into clusters of 3D formations and hand-embroidered on the dress, lending both dimension and iridescence. High fashion meets high shine? We’re obsessed.