The 8th Form of Art, high tailoring of Haute Couture Week. Autumn-Winter 2023/24

The 8th Form of Art, high tailoring of Haute Couture Week. Autumn-Winter 2023/24

Text: Tatiana Stolyarova

Photo credit: Karla Otto Press

Office, Vogue Runway

14 July 2023

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Text: Tatiana Stolyarova

Photo credit: Karla Otto Press

Office, Vogue Runway

14 July 2023

SHARE ARTICLE

Haute Couture is translated from French as ‘high fashion’, it’s exclusively French label and can not exist anywhere else.

But what does it really represent and why we always counterpose haute couture weeks to ready-to-wear ones?

High fashion is a place where designers can play, experiment, speak out and provoke their audience without constantly thinking of revenues. Its initially much more ‘down-to-earth’, commercial ready-to-wear [près-à-porter] lines which are supposed to drive the incomes.

Haute couture is here to show up, to carry us away, to make us dream. It’s the “8th Form of Art”, adding to the traditional Painting, Sculpture, Literature, Architecture, Theatre, Film and Music. In fact, it incorporates all other forms of art which supplement the art of tailoring, pardon very very high tailoring. Indeed, the latest collections of the Autumn-Winter 2023/24 Week which took place in Paris at the beginning of July proved that art is in the core of haute couture

Thom Brown shown his first couture collection in the French capital, and it couldn’t have been more dramatic. He seated the guests of the show… on the stage of the Paris Garnier Opera. While the red and golden auditorium was entirely populated by black and white cut-out illustrations of the personages who looked much similar to the designer.

“Its really special – the idea of taking almost American sportswear and bringing in into a couture setting”, said Thom. The catwalk turned into a real theatre piece, where the main character was sitting at the station, thinking about her life and not being happy when out of a sudden she sees all of her fantasies walked in.

Another newcomer of this week became the Beirut based luxury house Ashi Studio. In keeping with the designer’s Mohammed Ashi flair for drama, the winter collection was unveiled onstage at the iconic Théatre du Chatelet. Despite the morning hour [10 a.m.] the show which opened the last day of the four-days couture mini-race, gathered, as French say “crème de la crème” [best of the best] of the fashion industry, both of influencer and media sides. Inspired by the powerful novel “Perfume” of Patrick Suskind, it came as a fresh scent with the couturier’s approach dressing as “undressing”. Undeniably, in his Parisian debut Ashi, who employed the of best of the French craftsmen, has managed to extract the essence of couture.

Stephan Rolland has also chosen to stage his winter presentation in the Garnier Opera. The show took place in the majestic main entrance of the Opera with its sculptural staircase by which the models, or better say, Divas, all inspired by the characters of the classical Italian operas, were climbing. Breathtaking sumptuous looks, or better say ‘pieces of art’.

Viktor and Rolf celebrate the 30-years anniversary of their namesake house. We got used to the up-side-down conceptual entertainment which the designers’ duo propose at the haute couture weeks. The latest one was about the tiniest garment – the bathing suit, revisited with the hallmark sense of humour. Yet, the show stopping moments were headless mannequins wearing female black tuxedos, hanging onto the models’ backs, or twisted in multiple formations around their bodies. The meaning of all this? ‘Its open to imaginations’, answered the designers.

Another viral moment of the past week was the closing look at Balenciaga show, while the model was walking in a shining, chrome-laminated 3D printed bell-skirted suit of armour. A modern interpretation of Joan of Arc by Demna Gvasalia.

“May be she would’t have been burned at the stake for wearing men’s cloths if she was wearing that,” he remarked.

The rest of the collecting is worthing to describe as well. A slew of hidden tromp l’oeil handcrafted techniques had been lavished on oil painting fabric to imitate fur, printing Japanese denim to mimic Prince of Wales check, and ‘windswept’ raincoats to look as if they were caught by a storm.

The lineup was opened by a replica black velvet Cristobal Balenciaga haute couture dress. It was worn by the exquisite Danielle Slavic, who originally modelled it for Balenciaga himself. Grace Kelly ordered it, with its integral pearl necklace for her 40th birthday.

I would also highlight the couture collection of the young creative, the designer who briefly headed Rochas House, Charles de Vilmorin. It was his first ever runway show for his eponymous label. Most of the looks featuring his signature artworks.

“This show is the story of the pressure of creation; it starts with a very simple white dress, like a white paper when you start to create,” said de Vilmorin. This collection addressed the questions he asked himself when he creates, including whether to show something sharp and black or something “crazy both more colour”.

When it comes to Schiaparelli, the art and performance naturally prevail. The show in fact stars before the show, outside the Petit Palais, the usual venue, with all star-guests, this time headed by Cardi B who has arrived in the signature surrealistic black and gold outfits and climed the stairs under the photographers and looks-loos shouts.

Once the models come out the magic begins and you barely believe that the things you’re seeing are the work of human hands.

“I wanted this season to feel much more free, spontaneous, painterly,” said Daniel Roseberry backstage. “The idea of the collection was really to suck the air out of the room. It’s what happened. I think the idea was to try to keep focus on the collection and go deeper into the techniques we wanted to show”, adds the designer.

Roseberry continues to experiment with craftspeople to blur the boundaries between clothing, embroidery, jewellery and textile. To make at as arty as possible.

Lucian Freud’s chaotic painting inspirations resulted in a multicoloured ‘nude’ dress, made up of an irregular mosaic of paillettes sewn onto chiffon.

While the vivid blue that turned up, scrolled into a skating skirt, and continuing into spray-painted body-paint and landing elsewhere in coils of painted wooden jewellery.

The ultimate bliss of haute couture is to make us believe in what we see is real, when and where it is not.

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