Isabel Marant, the unofficial outfitter of models off-duty and any girl aspiring to get that French “I’m not trying too hard” look, was feeling soft and cozy for fall 2013.
The designer usually looks to some kind of Americana for inspiration–Hawaiian prints, Western wear, varsity gear–but this time she just went for plain and cozy.
Even though Dries Van Noten showed his Fall 2013 collection two days ago, I saw it for the first time today.
I, along with around 30 other invited guests, was shut out of Wednesday’s show at the Hotel de Ville after building security threw some glass barricades in front of us following a change in venue capacity.
But maybe it was meant to be–because in the end, I was able to see Van Noten’s stellar fall collection up close and personal in his showroom instead of on the runway.
Instead of a straightforward review of Jean Paul Gaultier’s fall 2013 show, we thought we’d try something different. We asked London-born Paris-based stylist Natalie Yuksel to pick out her top five looks from a stylist’s perspective–why they spoke to her, how she’d use them in a shoot, etc., Her impressive client list includes Louis Vuitton, L’Officiel, Rika, and celebs like Daisy Lowe and Eva Green. So basically, she knows her stuff.
Read on to see which looks she’s most want to toss into a photoshoot, and why.
For his runway debut, newly appointed Sonia Rykiel artistic director Geraldo da Conceicao made sure to make his presence known. While classic Rykiel was represented—knitted jackets in her signature purple, flouncy flamenco dresses in an easy black matte jersey, a series of kooky sweaters—there was plenty of new, too.
If there’s a definite trend emerging from the Paris Fashion Week Fall 2013 shows, it’s the idea of masculine versus feminine. Androgyny has little to do with it. Instead, designers—Marco Zanini at Rochas and Dries van Noten in particular—have sent out models in very feminine or very masculine looks, bringing together what some would consider mutually exclusive ideas.
Vanessa Bruno went down a similar path for fall.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing is so young (he’s 27). Because with youth comes fearlessness and Rousteing certainly showed no fear when it came to his fall 2013 collection for Balmain.
Paris Haute Couture, an exhibit which explores the history of couture, may be taking place at the Hôtel de Ville right now–but just up the Seine, Raf Simons gave his own fashion history lesson at his fall 2013 Dior show.
Held under the golden dome of the Hôtel des Invalides, the show space set an uplifting tone for the collection: Giant reflective mylar balloons floated randomly throughout the space, and images of Magritte-style blue sky and white cumulous clouds were projected on the floor.
The setting was the perfect compliment to a collection which explored the creative process–the experiences and the obsessions, and in this case the art–that has shaped fashion design today as well as in Christian Dior’s day.
Rick Owens knows how to build anticipation. The lights lowered to signal the start of his fall 2013 show and then–woosh–a wall of smoke came shooting out from stage left. Wagner blared through the severe cement venue at the Palais Omnisports De Bercy. Then–poof!–out came the models. And I do mean “poof” because their hair was styled into the fluffiest, frizziest puff balls. The smoke and wind blew the models’ hair over their eyes but they never broke character and brushed it out of their faces. They were stone faced and severe through and through.
Roland Mouret cited Catherine Deneuve in 1983′s vampire flick The Hunger as inspiration for his fall 2013 collection. But in reality, it’s less about that specific character and more about an attitude. A Parisienne attitude. “Paris demands something of me,” he said in the show notes. “It inspires me to make the show collection more ‘Parisienne’ each season.”
There was something a little Center Stage about designer Peter Copping‘s fall 2013 collection for Nina Ricci. Inspired by dance, with sister-pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque playing Phillip Glass’s “Two Movements for Two Pianos” live, there were plenty of looks that mimicked styles favored by ballerinas, including flared skirts, ribbed sweaters, and wide knit headbands that held up a top bun.
That’s all fine and nice and elegant, but much like the film, Copping’s dancer was just a little sexier than expected.
Carven’s creative director, Guillaume Henry, always likes his quintessentially ’60s Parisian girl to travel: She’s gone to swinging London for resort 2013; she’s gone on vacation to Brittany and Bavaria (remember the lederhosen in Spring 2012?); she’s gotten medieval on us (in Fall 2012), and this season, like in Back to the Future, she seems to have time traveled. Flash forward and believe it or not, there were hints of the garish ’80s in Carven’s fall line up in the way of bold zebra stripe pattern on leather dresses, tops and little box bags; a penchant for hot pink and pastels; and, yes, crimped hair. Has the Carven girl discovered Barbie?
The nameplate necklaces in Alber Elbaz’s fall collection for Lanvin said it all: “Happy”, “Cool”, “Help” they read in big gold cursive lettering.
