Haute Couture Week is by no means an outlier on the fashion calendar. After all, it's where designers are expected to show a little imagination, dare to be creative outside the margins, and show what art looked like in the heyday of the medium.
Does that make it a small deviation? Maybe.
But this season, the shows really seemed to find their rhythm with a coherent dialogue between the catwalk and the streets. The street style was especially inspiring with an elegance that was a departure from the more sober looks we saw last summer. Inspiration was especially felt at Jean Paul Gaultier, where guest designer Simone Rocha premiered her first haute couture collection.
As for Schiaparelli, the show, packed with his usual wall-to-wall celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya, opened with a model holding a shiny robot baby. Viktor & Rolf continued their surreal themes with pompous, fragmented and deconstructed dresses. And at Maison Margiela, a show that resembled a real headliner, a short film, a live performance and models prowling the runway like animated dolls showcased John Galliano's singular vision.
