An unquenchable gourmet could embrace the choice to invariably reserve the best for the end…. It is in this spirit that the fashion industry organised its “Fashion Month”, designating Paris as the venue for the closing of the Fashion Week, after Milan, New York and London respectively. A week of excitement under the spotlight of spring-summer 2020 trends, with societal influences.
Impeccable styles, noble materials, enchanting venues, Paris Fashion Week could have looked like any other if there had not been a strong sense of militancy on the podiums of the 80 Parisian fashion shows. Driven by the consequences of the post-Me Too era, the repercussions of the Fashion Pact, the desire to promote inclusion, each house took advantage of the event to claim their own message.
For his last fashion show at Saint Laurent’s, Anthony Vaccarello was determined to put an end to the dictatorship of puritanism, leaving the woman completely free to assume her sex appeal in very short clothes. An extra touch of diversity, the almost 50 years old “black panther”, Naomi Campbell came to close the parade with a sparkling sequined tuxedo.
While Guy Laroche, through the celebration of prostitution, claimed the right to free disposal of his body, the Indian Manish Arora paid tribute to sexual minorities and the LGBT community. For its first fashion show in Paris, Gucci focused on the fluidity of its collections, plural silhouettes, a mixture of genres and identities, displayed by millennials that are totally open-minded!
PFW 2019-2020
During its inclusive fashion show, Etam Live Show praised LA Femme. The lingerie brand has showcased all bodies by promoting the most representative morphologies of the company, thus taking up the common thread of its latest “Feel Free” campaign.
Dior (Maria Grazia Chiuri) showcased ecology by hosting the show in a plant setting of 160 trees (soon to be replanted in the streets of the capital to avoid the replica of the Chanel scandal show of March 2018, where century-old trees had been felled to be used in the scenography for only a few hours). Stella McCartney, pioneer of ethical luxury was eagerly awaited and delivered a 2020 collection “as the most eco-responsible ever made”.
All eyes were on the Chanel show, where Virginie Viard became the new Artistic Director after Karl Lagerfeld’s death. No major announcement but an ode to youth and a tribute to the company’s codes, a Coco spirit with modernised lines that restore comfort and naturalness. Highpoint of the parade? The inlay of the Youtubeuse Marie on the catwalk, at first unnoticed because she was dressed in a tweed suit and had a matching hat screwed on her head. Proof that our gaze is getting used to inclusion and that consciences may be awakening to difference!
Exit superficiality, fashion is revived with a committed fashion, more sensitive to the problems of the world, closer to our true social structure. Would clothing finally allow us to claim who we really are without taboos?