Dries Van Noten
“Intimacy.” That’s what Dries Van Noten said inspired his fall 2023 women’s collection, which was dedicated to the love of clothes and cultivating a relationship with the wearer.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s at the crux of fashion this season. As some brands fight for attention and social media likes with color-changing clothes (Anrealage), model trust falls (Sunnei) and runway dramatizations of “Le Petit Prince” (Thom Browne), others are drilling back into the fundamentals — the luxury of fit and fabric, and the touch of the handmade.
Post-pandemic casual, and in contrast to the luxury powerhouses built mostly on logo accessories, they’re trying to get customers to fall in love with well-made clothes again and reminding them there is value to dressing well — even for yourself, and a certain sustainability to holding on to luxury pieces.
So Van Noten elevated dressmaker and mending details to the lofty stage of performance venue Le Dôme de
Paris, set the collection to the beat of improvisational jazz drummer Lander Gyselinck, and had models crisscrossing the theater aisles, with the entire show reflected in a huge mirror behind the stage. The result was subtle, romantic and an invitation to fashion discovery.
“It’s about really strong materials combined with super flimsy materials, delicacy, things which you cherish, which you really want to keep, which fall apart which you want to restore and mend,” Van Noten said.
Cue the opening passage of tailoring, each piece kissed with a special detail — a gray pinstripe jacket and draped midi skirt slit up the side and edged in rippling white organza, a double-breasted coat with gold zigzag stitching over the darting, and an oversized blazer with lapel sliced open to reveal a sliver of gold jacquard.
“You hide the most precious part for yourself,” Van Noten said, pointing to several tailored pieces in the collection that reverse to gorgeous metallic jacquards.
There were lots of classics with special intimate touches, such as a trench coat with the waist rolled in gold paint, “as if you embellished it yourself,” he explained.
Contrasting with the masculine tailoring were feminine, lingerie-inspired pieces playing on transparency, including slipdresses embroidered with French lace or with old necklaces for straps, organza layered skirts with raw edges, and dusters in subtle hand-painted floral prints over bra tops. Adding to the idea of cherishing, fluffy faux furs were made from the same factory that manufactures Steiff bears. A true Teddy coat.
There was a desire for pieces to look “antique-y but not dusty,” he said, noting a gold lamé floral was adopted from an archival piece found at a mill in Como, and another fabric was made in an atelier in Lyon on old looms from the 1920s.
Two of the most spectacular jackets were patchworked with layers of technical mesh, tulle, wadding and embroidery, paying homage to the idea of conservation. Even the velvets in the collection had been intentionally aged.
“Imperfection sometimes makes it more personal,” said Van Noten. “I personally don’t like perfection. It scares me. Quite often for me it’s the same as boring, right? I think with imperfection you can add something from yourself.”
At seven years old, Koché is on the cusp between emerging label and household brand, a moment that got Christelle Kocher thinking about the fundamentals of the brand.
“Before starting a new cycle, it’s about where it came from, where we started, the design, the trial-and-error, the research, the team,” she said. Even the brand’s Parisian studio made an appearance, as the setting for the fall look book.
In a nutshell, the starting point’s always been contrasts of materials, a focus on wearability and Kocher’s use of traditional couture know-how on decidedly contemporary fare. “I wanted to have this very urban [vibe], a new energy that’s a little punk with a feminine side that I took a while to fully embrace again, with refined work on pieces with embroideries and embellishments,” she continued, naming dresses as a category that saw her drape and pleat in the spirit of Madeleine Vionnet and Madame Grès.
Knitwear took pride of place this season. It’s a category that’s been going strongly for the brand, and one that Kocher delved into for its ease-of-wear but also the potential to apply the full force of her artisanal vision.
Case in point: a sweater dress inlaid with lace; a halterneck gown that paired silk with ribbed knits that achieved a seamless pleated look, or zippered cardigan coats that used multiple types of stitches.
Elsewhere, the intricate folds on a top were offset by the mesh it was made of, while boxy blousons and trenches were given a sharp makeover thanks to architectural shoulder lines. A fluffy gorilla jacket made of feathers and raw-edged chiffon that was as light to wear as it was visually striking thanks to its organza and Airtex mesh underpinnings.
For the masculine side to her lineup, Kocher delved into the sportier part of her playbook, reworking sports jerseys, zippered sweaters and motorcycle jackets, in a nod to the work of German visual artist Alexandra Bircken.
There’s another way in which Kocher is about to double down on her label’s identity: by moving to the men’s calendar as of next season.
Not only did it feel like a conceptual fit, including a proximity to couture, but it also made commercial sense for the brand, which will no longer be offering pre-collections.
“Concentrating my message in one collection with multiple commercial drops made more sense for my brand, my teams — to do less but better,” Kocher said. — Lily Templeton
Anrealage
Fashion, like the light, is ever-changing.
That was Kunihiko Morinaga’s observation for fall, with a collection made entirely from fabrics that changed under ultraviolet light.
He began experimenting with photochromic textiles around 10 years ago, and the technology has changed a lot since, opening up creative opportunities with different textured fabrics like satin, jacquard and macramé, he explained backstage before the show, through an interpreter.
On the stage of a 19th century theater just off the Place de la Madeleine, guests gasped and applauded as his voluminous designs, initially all white, were brought to life by a bar of light passing in front of them, in dramatic contrast with the black backdrop and traditional red velvet drapes surrounding the stage.
A textured textile became a logo jacquard in two candy tones, stripes appeared on T-shirts and an allover lace jumpsuit took on a variety of pastel shades.
Ever the playful designer, the trompe l’oeil effects did not stop there. His voluminous ‘50s-inspired silhouettes, almost like a child’s sketches in their exaggerated proportions, included trenchcoats or suits that were the same front and back — complete with two sets of lapels, shirt collars and neckties, for example. The assumedly naïve style did not hide the fact that the Japanese designer is also a master of pattern-cutting.
Inspired by the notion of “Umwelt,” a German word and philosophy evoking the environment or surroundings, Morinaga played with perception. A bee or an insect does not see color the same way a human does, for instance, he explained. Observed in Paris or Tokyo, or in the sun or under artificial light, the colors would differ according to their environment, he said. It was an eye-catching observation on diversity that will likely remain carved in the memories of his audience for many a moon(light).
When an outfit in a Damier-like brown checkerboard pattern appeared on Undercover’s fall runway, people lifted their smartphones and started Googling the name that appeared amid the squares: Manuel Göttsching, the Krautrock musician whose album “E2 E4” was considered a defining moment of ’80s electronica.
Others snapped photos of the lines embroidered on the back of tailored jackets, to read and research later. (It was lyrics from “Enjoy Yourself,” by The Specials, released in 1980.)
This was a busy, eclectic collection that pinged between rockabilly, punk, emo, and a bit of midcentury couture — with a few eye-catching items in between.
Jun Takahashi opened his display with boyish, lustrous pantsuits in jewel tones, a bony, embroidered hand gripping the shoulder of the first exit. The backs of these suits displayed intricate jacquard scenes and either floral embroideries or more verbiage.
The Grinch-y hands later mingled with roses scattered over camel overcoats and bomber jackets — classic meets borderline creepy.
There were padded raincoats, apparently a collaboration with Japanese brand Fragments, which was spelled out on the back in yet more embroidered lettering.
Later came dalliances with leopard prints, done up in monotone, and more checkerboard prints for the finale. Balaclavas with Batman ears seemed like the item to get.