Haute couture shows have become explosions of ephemeral art that bring together multidisciplinary creators to elevate costumes on the catwalk. This has been demonstrated by the Parisian Haute Couture Week that has just been held in such emblematic places as the Musée Rodin (Dior) or the Grand Palais Ephémère (Chanel). Artists and designers seal a pact of convenience thanks to the budgets of the maisons, today powerful holdings convinced that there is no more powerful loudspeaker than that of haute couture. Open bar to creativity!
The sequence is brief, in less than twenty minutes three sensations must be concentrated: astonishment, virtuosity and paradox. The best sellers are not worth it, the easy prose. "Haute couture is what remains when everything else has been forgotten." The phrase is signed by Jean-Paul Gaultier and Haider Ackerman. That is the ambition. That we continue talking about her the same way we do today about the new look or the shocking color of Schiaparelli, inspired by the begonias in his garden. The parade format invented by Charles Worth for Eugenia de Montijo reaches the category of stage art.
"Beauty will be convulsed or it will not be", defended Elsa Schiaparelli. And Daniel Roseberry, an American in Paris in charge of his maison, follows in his wake. The couturier resorted to Dante's Divine Comedy and wanted to interpret the passage through infernal circles. From that dark forest emerge the beasts, whose heads cling to the body in a dramatization of the jewel. When model Irina Shayk strode down the runway with the face of a lion on her chest, her nets blazed in outrage: "Isn't this glamorizing big game?" It was a fake taxidermy made of resin, synthetic leather and wool, more stuffed animal than trophy.
On Tuesday the Dior parade was held, which has tripled its turnover with a feminist discourse, a profusion of logos and an alliance with prized artists. On this occasion, Maria Grazia Chiuri had Mickalene Thomas, in charge of making 13 portraits that embodied female black power. The faces of Nina Simone or Josephine Baker guarded a catwalk that inhaled the smoke of jazz. And Chiuri paid tribute to the star-spy who danced and laughed like nobody else. Baker was a client of the Dior house and established a carefree way of wearing luxury clothes.
Redeemed nostalgia, invocation of animals and cult of the legacy have been three constants of this edition. Virginie Viard, at the head of Chanel, strengthens the bond with the painter and sculptor Xavier Veilhan. The cultural legacy of the firm does not admit truce. On this occasion, Viard asked him to reinterpret Gabrielle Chanel's bestiary, and the result was the abstraction of eleven huge animals made of wood, cardboard and paper that the models hid inside. Viard wanted to recreate a certain party air, for which she used different uniform codes and even appealed to “majorette poetry”.
A virtuosic roll came at the Jean-Paul Gaultier show, led by Haider Hackerman. Whoever was the eternal successor of the greats –always supported by his muse, Tilda Swinton– emerged like a phoenix and offered a recital of true fashion: the show resided in the layout of the tailoring of the archives and in the brilliance of the volumes . The soundtrack included the song dedicated to Masha Amini, For , in a reaffirmation that fashion is also political.
And what will become of the fanciful garments that paraded? We will see some of them on the red carpets, others will be bought by collectors, and a few will be reserved for 1% of the women on the planet. privileged? There will be those that will only exhibit them in private, because in public they must be covered. While museums will be the final destination of the best pieces, understood as an expression of an era, once the artistic value has overcome the main condition of fashion: its ephemeral nature.
