Armani Privé

Armani Privé, Ronald Van der Kemp, Chanel
The world’s most skilled designers continue to present their latest masterpieces in a combination of both virtual and physical shows in Paris. Read on for more highlights from day two of haute couture week and check back for more updates.

Ronald Van der Kemp

Ronald Van der Kemp’s 35 pieces in this fall 2021 couture collection are rarer than ever. The Dutch designer known for being a sustainability advocate created the collection with used denim, felted textile trash, and recycled fabrics proving that sustainability can look modern and timeless.

“It’s also a sort of a metaphor of a clean slate from where to start anew after all we’ve been though,” said Alexandre Vauthier about his fall 2021 couture collection. The pieces unveiled, are sprinkled with crystals in a monochrome palette belonging in the dream closet of every woman. From feathered ponchos, embroidered black leather perfectos to sequined bodysuits and see-through pleated chiffon capes, Vauthier once again balanced dramatic access and sophisticated restraint.
Chanel

Virginie Viard took us back to the 30s in Chanel’s fall 2021 haute couture collection. The pieces were characterized by a lightness of touch, inspired by impressionist artist Berthe Morisot and the Cubist Marie Laurencin. Bouffant skirts made from nothing else but tweed are married with delicate bustiers of pale pink embroidery or delicate lace in addition to Viard’s “little deshabilles” lingerie-like pieces. To end the collection on a high note, the bridal look personified by Margaret Qualley in soft pink satin worn with a dreamy sequined veil transported us to the era of Gabrielle Chanel.
Armani Privé

Powerful, bold, and colorful, Armani Privé’s collection called Shine included all the colors of the rainbow; hints of red, blue, green, splashes of pink and purple. This year’s fall (which may look like spring to some) couture collection incorporated mercurial silk organza that moved effortlessly and fluid-like across the runway, as well as elegant and playful draped chiffon, and tulle dresses. The fresh, glowy pastel palette was seen throughout the show, from feathered jackets, to flowing silk gowns.
Read Next: All the Highlights from Day One of Paris Haute Couture Week Fall/Winter 21-22

Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Giorgio Armani’s last haute couture collection was a beautiful but melancholy depiction of the empty streets of Milan he experienced during the pandemic. Coming back to life, he did the exact opposite. His first Armani Privé show with an audience in over a year was held in the Italian Embassy in Paris where gowns brushed against your knees as they made their way through the narrow salons. Armani painted liquefied silk organza and layers of chiffon in the pastel colours of the rainbow, proposing an haute couture wardrobe founded in vibrancy, freshness and elation. Anders Christian Madsen spoke to Armani before the show.
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
What motivated this collection?
“With this collection I wanted to convey a feeling of joy and lightness. I wanted this to be a collection about rebirth, about a new sense of blossoming and freedom of spirit.”
Did the idea of returning to the live format – the audience – impact the collection?
“The idea of coming back to live shows did not really impact my work. The collection was created during the past months and until the last minute we didn’t know whether we would be able to stage a proper show. I am happy that we will be presenting it in front of a live audience because I think that all the impalpable and floating shapes need to be seen in a real environment and on a moving body to be fully appreciated.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Which looks in the show mean the most to you?
“The looks that mean the most to me are those dresses that are so transparent and liquid that almost look like water, or like halos around the body. I think that with our ateliers we were able to capture a sense of levity and luminosity that can be seen throughout the collection.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Did your recent accident affect your creative outlook in any way?
“It was simply something that happened, and it has not affected my work. But it did teach me to be extra careful when I go out. I mean I’m always very aware but sometimes you just need to pay some extra attention.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Your last Armani Privé show was very emotional; often melancholy. Do you feel more emotional about your work after the pandemic?
“Honestly, I do not feel more emotional about my work after the pandemic. But I now want my work to show emotions in a clearer way. I think that during this period we have discovered a feeling of something true, something powerful, something enriching, something energising, and I want all this to come true also through my work. These are feelings that accompanied us over the last months – sometimes of grief, sometimes of happiness – and it is always important to follow them.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
How would you describe the emotions that went into this show?
“Regarding the emotional aspects of this show, I don’t think we’re completely out of what happened but the message I want to convey is one of hope, because I truly wish we will soon come out of this very dark tunnel.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Why did you decide to include pieces from your previous haute couture collection in this show?
“This collection includes pieces from my previous show because I thought they were beautiful dresses and I wanted them to be seen for real by the audience. The other reason is that timelessness is a central idea in all my collections: no clothes are meant to be over in one season.”
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Read Next: All the Best Fashion from the 2021 Cannes Film Festival
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk

Take Valentino’s glam-rock platform boots, add Fendi’s supermodel lineup and the return of one of fashion’s most-loved designers, Alber Elbaz — here’s how Couture Fashion Week SS21 came through with the haute energy we need for 2021.
Photo: Courtesy of Fendi

Drama, decadence and a whole load of attitude — Couture Fashion Week unleashes a welcome dose of escapism at the best of times, let alone in 2021. 
From Kim Jones’s romantic Fendi debut (simultaneously his first-ever womenswear show) to Chanel’s wedding-party-themed runway gathering (complete with a white horse to transport the bride) and the long-awaited return of former Lanvin creative director, Alber Elbaz — the SS21 couture runways delivered the kind of dreamlike glamour that we could all use right now.
These are the five need-to-know fashion trends from Couture Fashion Week SS21.
1. Haute reality
AZ Factory, Chanel, Schiaparelli

“I wanted to work on new technology to develop some smart fabrics with factories [to make] beautiful, purposeful, and solution-driven fashion,” Alber Elbaz told Vogue as he unveiled his new eponymous label, AZ Factory. The essence of his new design proposition? “[It] is for everyone.” The fuss-free, grounded spirit of the charismatic return to fashion was echoed elsewhere. At Chanel, Virginie Viard teamed a casual, untucked silk shirt (the sort you might be wearing with pilates pants as you read this) with a full ballerina skirt and morning-after-the-night-before sunglasses, while Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry made the elasticated-waist pant the epitome of modern elegance. 
2. Electric prints 
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How does the world’s grandest fashion week strike a rebellious note? It ushers in the jeunesse energy of new talent. Enter recent fashion graduate Charles de Vilmorin, whose explosive hand-crafted designs pay homage to couture’s more outré ambitions. As Vogue Runway’s Nicole Phelps reports, De Vilmorin painstakingly painted his textiles by hand. His adage? “You don’t need a special occasion to wear something extra.” 
3. The big pink
Giambattista Valli, Armani Prive

Is it even Couture Fashion Week if there isn’t a multitude of gigantic blush gowns? We think not. The SS21 couture gospel according to Giambattista Valli? “Go big and stay home,” as he told Vogue via a video call. Valli’s plumptuous pink dresses alluded to the intoxicating effect of a bouquet of fresh peonies. Schiaparelli too fell for fuchsia, unveiling the outrageously surreal ‘earring gown’ (modelled with aplomb by Maggie Maurer), while Armani Privé made a persuasive case for matching your handbag to layers of confectionery tulle.
4. Burnished gold
Valentino, Fendi, Dior

Is our collective obsession with glowing skin crossing over into fashion? Yes — if the couture runways at Valentino, Fendi and Dior are anything to go by, a radiant wardrobe is set to be just as much a part of your beauty arsenal as a 10-step skincare regime. At Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri enlisted director Matteo Garrone to once again capture the cinematic glow of her designs, which, this season, took inspiration from the mysticism and burnished feel of the historical Visconti-Sforza tarot cards. Over at Fendi, Kim Jones made the case for opulent ‘cheekbone highlighter’ hues that mirrored the all-natural luminosity of supermodel Christy Turlington, who made a surprise runway appearance as part of Jones’s friends-and-family show lineup, alongside Kate and Lila Grace Moss, Bella Hadid and Naomi Campbell.
5. 3D florals
Chanel, Giambattista Valli, Fendi

If sunny floral motifs were at one time the stuff of fashion cliche (“Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking”), the resurgence of characterful blooms made a welcome appearance in the SS21 couture collections at Chanel, Giambattista Valli and Fendi. It would be impossible to ignore the respite (and design inspiration) that nature has offered during the various lockdowns that have become an all too familiar part of daily life. As fashion shows temporarily take place virtually, or minus their usual rapturous audiences, some industry rituals have remained. Notably, the giving of enormous floral bouquets, which, through the wondrous 3D designs grown out of Paris’s hallowed ateliers, were symbolically gifted to viewers all around the world this season.
Read Next: The Best Bridal Looks from Paris’s Haute Couture Week SS21
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk

Luxurious silk, frothy tulle, and delicate lacework — behold the best bridal dresses from this year’s couture catwalk.
Courtesy of Fendi

As fashion season kicked into high gear with Paris’s Haute Couture Week SS21, we were taken into high-glamour fairytales told through fashion films and digital shows, such as Dior‘s mesmerising exploration of self through tarot card characters and Valentino‘s mix of royalty and club-kid punk.
Throughout the week, we’ve witnessed couture’s exciting bridal transformations, including layers upon layers of tulle at Giambattista Valli and ruffle collars at Alexandre Vauthier. Meanwhile, the art of storytelling was transformed as shows fully immersed their virtual audience in beauty and elegance (think of Virginie Viard’s finale where the Chanel bride — wearing a silk-embellished, white-buttoned gown — rode in on a white horse). Aptly, this year’s offerings brought us creations that reinforce the purity of human connection and the emotion of being together — all of which we will hopefully be able to experience again, soon.
From Valentino to Fendi, these are the best bridal looks from Paris’s Haute Couture Week SS21.
1. Valentino
Courtesy of Valentino

2. Fendi
Courtesy of Fendi

3. Giambattista Valli
Courtesy of Giambattista Valli

4. Giambattista Valli
Courtesy of Giambattista Valli

5. Chanel
Courtesy of Chanel

6. Chanel
Courtesy of Chanel

8. Alexandre Vauthier
Courtesy of Alexandre Vauthier

9. Antonio Grimaldi 
Courtesy of Antonio Grimaldi

10. Antonio Grimaldi
Courtesy of Antonio Grimaldi

11. Dior
Photo: Elina Kechicheva. Courtesy of Dior

12. Dior
Photo: Elina Kechicheva. Courtesy of Dior

13. Armani Privé
Courtesy of Armani Privé

14. Viktor & Rolf
Courtesy of Viktor & Rolf

Read Next: All the Highlights from Day Three of Paris Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2021
Originally published on Vogue.co.uk