Quiet luxury is being overturned in Paris by everyday audacity.
“Wearable doesn't have to be boring,” Dries Van Noten said during a preview of his fall 2024 collection, dismissing with a Belgian twist the conservative minimalist moment that has dominated fashion for a while.
“She is a pretty strong woman, a woman who dares to cut her bangs.” [bangs]“She has attitude, she enjoys contradictions, she wants to be loved but she wants control,” she said of her muse for the season.
She also knows how to make an entrance. Into her show space, the raw concrete ghost of a C&M retail store on Boulevard Haussmann (there have been a lot of vintage stores this season, a sad sign of the times), the first models entered in complete silence. . But once you looked up from your phone, you couldn't look away.
These women were stunning yet comfortable in super-chic royal clothing in a Necco wafer palette: a deconstructed butter yellow crewneck sweatshirt, twisted and pinned in the back over a pink short-sleeved sweatshirt, satin shorts pale green duchess and high boots; a gray melange twisted knit draped blouse and skirt set; a houndstooth pantsuit with broken collar embroidery and a petal-shaped faded denim skirt that will be a must-have for many in the fall because it is versatile and special.
Van Noten has always loved a powerful woman, she said, recalling the influence of the late Claude Montana on her work. “He was one of my heroes… There were two Claude Montana outfits in my exhibition with shoulders and fringes… he was one of the elements that formed my design. It was an awakening to see his incredible shows, you discover the possibilities of fashion and what could be translated, which for me was incredible,” he said, remembering the 80s.
“During those few years we had Versace, Mugler, Montana, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Katharine Hamnett and then the Japanese designers; for six or seven years we had a bombardment of talent and visions, going from punk to New Romantics to New Romantics. Wave.”
She channeled her own artistic expression on the runway, slowing the pace of the show to reveal fields of brown, blue and pink painted Rothko-style on a silk coat, and 3D embroidery on the sleeves of a short dress. plaid. Double-breasted blazer, worn over jeans.
Even the grid print on a twisted, bias-cut dress was handmade. “We didn't want anything that was perfect or clean, so we started drawing everything by hand,” she said of searching for a sense of spontaneity.
The outerwear pieces made a bold statement with couture-inspired shapes. The beautifully cut tan raincoat that opened the show, a cotton candy-colored faux fur, a butter yellow coat with sculpted kimono sleeves, and a camel coat with denim sleeves were just a few of the enticing offerings.
“We erased all the details, you have darts and seams to create shapes, but the buttons are covered in fabric, so it's all about all these really strange color combinations,” he said of the shades, including acid green and sapphire blue (Color is becoming a big trend this season; the weirder the better.)
There were also versatile, statement pieces that could make up a complete outfit, like a black silk crop top with crystal embellishments and a sleek back train that could be worn over a T-shirt and jeans, and a long, colorful faux fur scarf. pistachio green. wraps with a single sleeve to cover the shoulders in a dramatic way.
Because in addition to showing clothes, Van Noten teaches a fun and fearless way of dressing. At the very least, why not try wearing a shirt with buttons from front to back or with the cuffs hanging down the sleeves like her models did?
“It's a woman who takes a piece of cloth and wraps it around herself,” Van Noten said of his muse. “But it takes a lot of effort to look that simple.” Go ahead.
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