Few new names announced themselves for the first time at the haute couture week fall-winter 2021/2022 in Paris.
French Clara Daguin bid on the future not only of fashion, but also, as it seems to us, of the world in general. On a digital. Her show, Oracle, which took place at the Parisian Palais des Mirages, represented five interactive glowing looks, each of which embodied one of the five elements (air, water, earth, fire and ether). The digital oracle offered spectators to read fortune in the palm of their hand, transferring us to the atmosphere of somewhere in between the Matrix and the looking glass. The designer created the collection in collaboration with Jacquard from Google.
African American Kerby Jean-Raymond with his Pyer Moss brand literally burst into the official program of the Paris couture week. In his work, the designer narratives activism – the message which the label has been transmitting from its foundation in 2013. Jean-Raymond pays homage to his African ancestors, creating a mix of non-trivial sets à la Jeremy Scott. In our opinion, Pyer Moss brings to Paris “fresh blood” and the provocation of a new generation, which the fashion capital lacked so much.
The first female couturier from India, Vaishali S, shown collection entitled “the Breath”, a theme close to many creatives considering the level of chaos in which the world pandemic merged us (just remember the golden piece of jewelry in a shape of lungs signed Schiaparelli on Bella Hadid’s stunning chest, which became a sensation at the latest Cannes Festival). Hand-woven from Merino wool and Chanderi silk, feminine dresses are the signature of the fashion house. The brand promotes a zero-waste approach to garments.
A Parisian-based Danish Louise Lyngh Bjerraggard was among the minority of fashion houses that maintained a “physical” fashion show – a format that seems to be replacing by the livestreams, but incomparable with the last regarding the emotions and feelings, no matter how original fashion films are. Live music, composed purposely for the Bjerraggard’s show, the bustle of the backstage, guests and photographers scrutinizing and taking pictures of each other in anticipation of the beginning, alas, all this becomes the past, giving way to a new virtual reality. The more valuable are the moments of live communication with the designer and fashion community, the privilege of which Louise offred us. Through her work, the designer carries the idea of humanity, which is so necessary now. The collection’s bold deconstructed looks, in which the Danish flirts with punk, embody a new sensuality: bodices (the undisputed favorites of the week), transparency, platform shoes.
Strictly speaking, yesterday’s student at the Institut Français de la Mode, Parisian with aristocratic roots Charles de Vilmorin is not entirely new in our list of designers in the haute couture week. His first graduation collection, a young man, whose whole appearance irresistibly recalls the one of young Yves Saint Laurent – the same tall and skinny, wearing glasses and dark – showed at the very beginning of the pandemic.That one, quickly sold out by a mysterious collector, consisted of flashy voluminous synthetic bombers and fluorescent leggings became the antipode of the new fall 2021 offer. Monochrome, with black prevailing. As the designer said, he “wanted to show something different,” and the idea of the collection “came naturally”. “It was just a mood.”
