TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

Relevance, diversity and inclusivity are some of the considerations on designers’ minds as they redefine modern haute couture without compromising on the magic of savoir-faire, says Jacquie Ang

VALENTINO

Besides founder Valentino Garavani, contemporaries including Raf Simons, Clare Waight Keller, Giambattista Valli and Christian Louboutin, turned up to watch Pierpaolo Piccioli’s parade of new fantastical offerings. The attendance demonstrated the high anticipation people had for the Roman creative director’s haute couture magic.

Florals for Spring is hardly groundbreaking, but his imaginative creations channeled an inexplicable sense of joy that even brought Celine Dion to tears. He asked the atelier’s seamstresses to christen each dress in the 65-look collection with a name of a flower, or with the emotion brought by the owner itself.

Inspired by B. Delachenaye’s Abécédaire de Flore ou Langage des fleurs, one of the earliest books on the language of flowers in 1810, Piccioli added floral hosiery that matched some of the short dresses.

But what was up on his moodboard were images of black women featured in the likes of Ebony and Jet magazines circa the 1970s, to the more recent Franca Sozzani’s radical Black Issue of Italian Vogue in July 2008. There was also Cecil Beaton’s famous 1948 photo of mid- century swans dolled up in lavish Charles James gowns. The all-white caste of women seems passé by today’s standards.

“What if Cecil Beaton’s photograph of those Charles James dresses could be with black women?” asked Piccioli. His curiosity led to a diverse troop of models, predominantly black with some newcomers such as Ugbad Abdi, this season.

“Couture is a dream. Although it celebrates uniqueness, which is a synonym for diversity, it has always meant to be for white people,” he explained. “To have a Roman brand represented by black beauty goes against all the xenophobia in Italy and, hopefully, all over the w orld. W ith t his Valentino h aute c outure collection, my hope is to deliver the message, as strong as I can.”

DIOR

The circus is a place Monsieur Christian Dior enjoyed visiting, particularly the Cirque d’hiver, where iconic model Dovima wore his dress when she was photographed with elephants by Richard Avedon in 1955.

In 1950, the house held a catwalk show at The Savoy in London, which was covered by British television in a report titled Dior “Circus” Comes To Town. Within the house, John Galliano and Bill Gaytten have flirted with the theme. Now, it’s Maria Grazia Chiuri’s turn.

The starting point for the current artistic director’s haute couture collection came from Parade, Pablo Picasso’s largest known painting drawn on a theatre curtain measuring over 10.4m by 16.5m feet. Based on the eponymous ballet in 1917, the painting was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev, whose company, the legendary Ballets Russes, performed the avant-garde dance, with a one-act scenario written by Jean Cocteau.

Grazia Chiuri taps on Picasso’s powdery palette in the painting, which also serves to suggest the fine dust that settles on worn stage attire. Short hemlines, some with pronounced hips, call to mind the tutus worn by acrobats, tamers and riders. A number of graphic black-and-white combinations punctuate the collection. When they’re not framed in ruffled collars, the models wore exaggerated black bowties fashioned out of what looks like ripped tulle.

Adding to the show’s excitement were the live performances by London-based circus company Mimbre Acrobats. Enlisting the allfemale troupe continues Grazia Chiuri’s stand on feminism and empowering women, while the circus represents a place of inclusion where the asexual clown expresses equality – origin, gender and age do not matter.

GIVENCHY

Clare Waight Keller had her white- out wish come true when it snowed on show day – the weather falling in line with her Bleached Canvas concept.

After last season’s couture collection that paid homage to the late Hubert de Givenchy, she wanted a clean slate that held no obligations to the archives. This was presented in a completely white box – the vast galleries of the Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the permanent home to renowned works by Matisse, Braque, Dufy and the Fauves, were stripped of their artworks to attain “purity of the wall”.

Five days of construction went into the stark white cube illuminated by diffused light, its lacquered floor designed to highlight the collection’s riot of paintbox colours and shiny surfaces. “This collection was all about starting from a blank canvas and the primary pigment colours that come from artists’ paint,” Waight Keller shared. “Pure colours and the memories I had of the saturation you get from their first satisfying squeeze of a fresh paint on a palette. So each of the dresses is named after colours such as Magenta and Charbon, or treaments such as Shellac and Laque.”

In the 42-look collection, draped tailoring produces sculptural curves alongside rigourous lines, evoking lightness and simplicity that only belie technical finesse. Waight Keller’s redefinition of modern couture puts traditional fabrics such as tulle, satin and laces together with unexpected materials, namely latex.

Latex pieces – slick stockings, gloves, bodysuit and T-shirt – were introduced in the opening look.each one required days to produce in collaboration with Atsuko Kudo, the legendary London specialty atelier is responsible for squeezing celebrities the likes of Beyoncé and Madonna into their skintight pieces.

“Latex is very couture, because it’s the most bespoke fabric you can get, in terms of a second skin fit,” she said backstage. However, she is quick to dismiss the connotation of kink.

Her contemporary approach also proposes a bowbackpack hybrid, turning a precious decoration into something functional and striking amid an assortment of crystal embroideries, paillettes, textured flowers, clover brooches, fringes, pearls and feathers

For her third couture collection for the house, Waight Keller delves into mini-volumes, the first time as artistic director of Givenchy.

CHANEL

This season, the late Karl Lagerfeld returned to 18th century, his favourite period, with a 62-look collection inspired by the talents of the marchands-merciers (a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen, but working within the regulations set out by a corporation) and the savoir-faire of the artisans of French luxury.

It was snowing outside, but the Grand Palais was transformed into a vast Mediterranean garden of Villa Chanel in summer. The centrepiece of the fantastical set was a pool of water surrounded by palm trees and Southern plant species in harmonious neat lines. Flowers, one of the significant artistic themes of that century, starred here in a sensational host of guises.

The collection is defined by two standout silhouettes. One is long and slender, with the head held high above wide boat necklines while lengths run to mid-calf. The other expresses voluminous bell and corolla shapes in full skirts or balloon sleeves.

“It’s a serene, ideal, timeless collection, that’s absolutely now, with new shapes,” Lagerfeld said.

Look 53: Placing her hands on her hips, Kaia Gerber drew attention to the lush feathers embroidered on a dress covered entirely with pink sequins. Ornate hand-painted ceramic flowers bloom in a myriad of shades on this ankle-grazing number.

THE OPENER Adut Akech wows in this Rosa Madame Pierre Oger number composed of a hoodcape brimming with lush rosette-esque folds and a matching fluoro scuba skirt fastened with a bow.

“You don’t invent colour but you can invent new harmonies for colour,” Piccioli said backstage of his imaginative palette. THE PALETTE

THE STOCKINGS

A jawdropping 1,050 hours of handwork went into the creation of this nude tulle and ivory lace number with iridescent embroidery and organza ruffles, making it the most time-intensive dress of the collection.

THE FINALE The parade ended with the inimitable Naomi Campbell, who strolled in to Roberta Flack’s soulful The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face wearing the Chocolat Dhalia hooded jacket and translucent dress with tiers of maxi volants. It is the first time she returns to Valentino’s couture show after 14 years. “Everyone is allowed to dream, this is the inclusivity of haute couture. This is the haute couture Naomi and I believe in,” was Piccioli’s message on diversity.

The Strelizia, Iris: Derived from the word for “intestines”, budellini is a couture technique emblematic of Valentino that sees double charmeuse silk rolled and sewn around a looped length of wool. These silken strings are similar to slim intestine-wrapped meat or fish sausages, seen here shimmying from a pearl crêpe T-shirt. Some 230m of parme georgette was used in this creation.

THE MAKE-UP Pat Mcgrath flooded Instagram feeds with models fluttering their colourful featherbedecked eyelashes. Evoking flower petals, the feathers were in colours specially customised to match the gorgeous gowns.

The Elicriso: Probably the heaviest dress in the collection, this handmade gauze and organdy floorlength gown is covered with a whopping 6.3kg of doré green sequins.

Based on the construction of a traditional circus tent, the show space required 70 tonnes of scaffolding, 92 tonnes of ballast, 45 tonnes of structural material and 2,900sqm of tent canvas to build in 2.5 weeks. In addition, the garlands of lights stretched up to 1km, while 2,000 unique floor panels were made by hand.

THE OPENER Selena Forrest made her entrance passing beneath a human arch of Mimbre Acrobats. She wore an asymmetric navy silk-velvet cocktail dress with ruffled sailor collar, teamed with sparkly ankle boots punctuated with stars, evoking Monsieur Dior’s lucky charm.

THE HIGHLIGHTS Look 2: Fit for a charismastic ringmaster, the refined tailoring of this red suit is accentuated with decorative frogging. Chiuri had found “curlers” (a strip of fabric that is thick in the middle and narrow on the ends) in the archives. Made with a cord around specially for Dior, it looks more graphic.

Look 30: With black ruffles protruding at the sides, this shirt dress commands attention with a glittering mosaic of sequin embroidery depicting circus animals, just the wonder and whimsy for the circus.

THE CELEBRITIES Camila Coelho

Olympia De Grece

Amelia Windsor

Look 54: Chiuri makes the cage dress so synonymous with Monsieur Dior her own with this number, which uses bands of gilded horsehair. The bustier dress is worn over a tattoo-print jumpsuit, a reference to Maud Wagner and the other circus performers who defied the norms of Victorian society with their full-body tattoos.

THE MAKE-UP Chiuri wanted something between punk and circus for the face. So Peter Philips, Creative and Image Director of Christian Dior Makeup, lined models’ eyes with black khol, and extended a little vertical line under the eye, like Pierrot, smudging it slightly for a punkish vibe. “All the emphasis was on the eyes, which are intriguing, and draw you in,” he explained.

Look 40: Chiuri’s take on Pierrot in his original white baggy ensemble, as popularised by the Commedia dell’arte, is embodied in a double-organza dress adorned with dreamy tiers of ivory organza ruffles.

Look 65: A two-tier ensemble of bustier and skirt distinguished with striking stripes and appliquéd satin bands that alludes to a circus’ big top, recreated for Dior’s SS19 haute couture show.

THE HAT The hat is the exclamation mark this season, declares milliner Stephen Jones. His head-hugging bonnets feature rhinestones sprinkled on moulded veils to lend sparkle to the face. Otherwise, they are positioned to simulate tears running down the face like the sad Pierrot. The veils obscure the identity of the girls, alluding to the a clown’s face paint.

THE OPENER Adut Akech set the tone in the black Laque doublebreasted jacket in double wool crêpe and contrasting white cotton lapel — the only full jacket in the whole collection. Glossy black latex leggings added a subversive edge to Waight Keller’s couture offerings.

THE MAKE-UP Ilya Vermeulen was one of two models to receive Pat Mcgrath’s special mask, painted on with silver makeup paint before loose platinum glitter was pressed over it for a maximum shine.

THE ACCESSORY Waight Keller makes a case for the backpack as the new evening minaudière. From the front, three of the models wore massive bows portruding from the back like wings. It was only from the back that the audience realised that they were Givenchy logo-branded backpacks — a cool surprise element with a couture touch.

THE HIGHLIGHTS The Sandarac: Kaia Gerber makes her runway debut for Givenchy in this cape dress in lacquered guipure, worn over a black bodysuit in silk knit and black thigh-high boots in lacquered guipure. She looks divine with a headband in silver-finished metal topped with crystals and pearls of different sizes. Just the look for the bride who wants to break the mould.

The Encre: A recognisable silhouette from the last couture collection, Waight Keller continues her story of cape dresses (a house signature) with an architectural number in matte double silk organza. Two fittings with model Veronika Kunz were required to achieve its sense of lightness.

THE FINALE Maggie Mauer ends the 42-look show in the Titanium romper made of grain de poudre wool, paired with a regal “Cage” cape in crin (a fabric made from horsehair) embroidered with crystal beads. A choker in silver-finished metal embellished with metallic crystals finished the look.

The Serin: Sora Choi steps out in this bright yellow gown with an invisble crinoline, under which was a crossover bodysuit in silk knit with matching tulle bodysuit. This tiered number combines two different laces: Chantilly lace from Normandy and a reproduction of a 1952 guipure lace from Switzerland. The intricacy of the reproduction translates into a price as high as gold.

The Ultra-violet: Jung Sohyun models this pleated one-sleeve dress in silk satin and silk taffeta, topped off with a twisted scarf at the neck and a glittering crystal-embellished choker in silver-finished metal. The organdie bodice and basque takes up to a day to sew.

Kristine Froseth THE CELEBRITIES

Swinton Byrne

Kim Go Eun

THE HAIR Lagerfeld wanted “hair going up and away from the face”. Said Sam Mcknight: “When we did the hair and make-up looks, I was reading Dylan Jones’ brilliant David Bowie biography. I was immersed in the period where he hung out with the Blitz Kids, so by osmosis, the hair today became inspired by those early ’80s style icons.” Flowers crafted from feathers and beadwork adorned the gravity-defying updos.

THE OPENER Lagerfeld’s “new Chanel” pares the signature tweed suit down to the extreme. Braiding woven with iridescent thread is embroidered into tweed, producing a crosshatched effect. The neckline, usually a straight boat neck, is now endowed with a slight curve, giving the slender silhouette a rounded touch. It’s Lagerfeld’s subtle allusion to the geometric form of French gardens.

THE HIGHLIGHTS Look 20: Embroidered with real flowers in resin, the collars on this dress are turned inside out to create the impression of a bolero on Amanda Googe.

Look 37: Assembled out of handpainted feathers, the embroidered flower bouquet motifs on this semi-sheer gown modelled by Hyun Ji Shin makes an exquisite expression of Chanel’s haute couture ateliers’ know-how.

THE MAKE-UP Luca Pica conceived a smouldering look for the eyes to add a modern touch to the Victorian-inspired collection. A blended blue eyeshadow with a subtle teal undertone fills the eyelid, further accentuated with a sharp graphic line below the eye. She amplifies the contrasting textures on the face with matte red lips and soft translucent skin.

THE FINALE Last season’s opening model gets the honour of closing this show. Vittoria Ceretti, the face of Chanel Beauty, is this season’s bride who as always, breaks conventions. She donned a dazzling embroidered silver cut-out bathing suit. A matching cap with a long cascading white veil sprinkled with silver glitter wafted behind her, making this the perfect bridal outfit for a poolside wedding. Instead of Lagerfeld, who traditionally accompanied the bride at the end of her walk, his right-hand woman, Virginie Viard did the final walk. Lagerfeld passed away in February this year.

Look 59: This ensemble of a lace top with peplum and a long skirt embellished with a flounced quille is covered in thousands of petals. Hung on skinny embellised straps, the elongated bodice balances the fullness of the flounces. Close scrutiny of the embroidery on tulle — created in crochet with needles, or stitched using a Cornely machine — reveals constellations of flowers, some of which twinkle with tiny paillettes.