Paris Fashion Week, the last of the fashion capital parades, always leaves us with something to think about.
This season, designers in Paris considered how to remain desirable to both aspirational and luxury buyers, all while retaining the creative values at the heart of each brand’s legacy.
Despite the demise of quiet luxury as branded items continue to reappear (especially in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior show), clothes retained a sense of timeless, stated elegance that only luxury fashion labels can claim as their own. While there was less experimentation with technology and fewer attempts at viral Instagrammable moments (The Row even went as far as to ban social media at their show) the French runways still saw self-confident and affirmative attitudes.
These are Citizen Femme’s highlights from Paris Fashion Week’s AW24 shows.
The Highlights
Saint Laurent
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Where SS24 was utilitarian, AW24 was liberated. Where SS24 was tailored, reinforced, and recalled the strict uniform of the aviation world, AW24 was sensual, languid, and fleeting. Yet through these diametric oppositions, Anthony Vaccarello still managed to transmit an ambience of awe. The power of Anthony Vaccarello’s clothes – and the power of the women wearing them – was reimagined, yet still remained. Interestingly, the show notes explain that “Anthony Vaccarello reminds us of what once was at the center of fashion by rendering it invisible: clothes” – suggesting that in the industry noise, its purpose has been lost. There was no noise in this collection. Both playfully and poignantly, the collection evoked the indelible ‘naked’ gown worn by Marilyn Monroe for her last public appearance, named as a frequent source of inspiration for the fashion house. The powdery palette of draping that alluded to traditional styles of tailoring reminisced on the smoke-filled soirees of the decade. From the masculine-coded SS24 where models almost hid behind armour-like clothes, flipped to the sensual, sheer AW24 – clothes gave in to the body forcing us to see their absence by seeing more of the model. Under the intimate skies of Paris, Saint Laurent showcased within an equally private location at its green, enclosed, boudoir-like set, where two interlocking rooms brought low lighting and a sensory mood, helping to undress the collection.
Hermès
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Slick, sleek, and sultry is the winter mood for 2024 according to Hermès. Gelled hair and moistened skin met shiny full-leather sets for Nadège Vanhee’s collection for the French house, and the Paris skies, right on cue, aligned with the creative direction, as the cinematic downpour enhanced an already dramatic atmosphere. Inspired by the uniform of biking sports, chocolate browns in all its hues, aubergines, and black met very heavy fabrics and shapes for elaborate, day-to-day wear.
The Row
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The Row created quite a stir across social media during Paris Fashion Week this season, as the brand by the iconic sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen seems to every season. However, this time, they did it all before even releasing the clothes to public view. The Row banned every single guest from posting on social media, and the silence of this felt louder than the flurry of posts that fashion’s digital audience is usually flooded with, both during and after the catwalk. Instead, a notebook awaited each guest in the venue, for jotting down thoughts and notes like was custom in days – and shows – gone by. An approach that aligns with the incredibly sophisticated and refined air of the brand. As for the clothes, oversized trenches, pleated and corseted dresses, and broad-shouldered wool overcoats effortlessly maintained the chic, wearable, and timeless brand notes, against the sun drenched backdrop of Rue des Capucines.
Valentino
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As the hopeless romantic of the Paris fashion crowd, Valentino by Pierpaolo Piccioli never sweeps through the city of light without making a scene in some way. Monochrome and muted colours have dominated the runways this season, however Valentino took the trend to the extreme, topping them all. Every look in the ‘Le Noir’ collection is head-to-toe black. Lace underneath delicately-pleated, veil-like gowns brought widow-like outfits, while patent vinyl boots and shiny black, full-length gloves amped up the drama. This decision was an unusual one for the house, which famously celebrates colour. The creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli explains that Le Noir is “representative not of an absence of colour, nor an exercise in monochrome or monotone, but rather the discovery of an entire spectrum of shades, infinitely nuanced, within one,” where “a rebellion to romance” is found. For winter, Valentino considers black as symbolising the prosperity of all colours at once rather than the absence of it.
Chloé
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After bidding farewell to Gabriela Hearst last season, in a very cheerful and celebratory final collection (although the designer who had helmed the brand for three transformational years will be missed), Chloé’s new creative director, Chemena Kamali, debuts with a collection just as joyful. But this is not a totally new beginning for Kamali, who first trained at Chloé for two years under Phoebe Philo’s hand at the start of her career, before returning in 2012 as part of Clare Waight Keller’s team. Now, almost twenty years after first stepping through the iconic label’s doors, the esteemed designer is back, this time bringing emotional response to dressing at the heart of Chloé’s history with her. “For me dressing is a part of self discovery: how we evolve as women in different stages of our lives,” explains the new creative director. Evoking the floral sensuality and boho-chic of the 1970s, the frequent layering of tulle alludes to the rich history of the brand, however the light materials and effortlessness of the clothes show that its core values of freedom and fluidity remain.
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Lead image credit: Saint Laurent AW24
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