Sarah Burton bid an heartfelt adieu at Alexander McQueen, Andreas Kronthaler celebrated Vivienne Westwood and Demna’s mum walked at Balenciaga
LoeweJonathan Anderson played with volumes, zooming in on details. The show opened with all-consuming, supersized knitted capes, but the high waisted trousers determined at menswear in June were a key piece here, too. They stay in place aided by an internal corset, as used in a bullfighter’s identical, a nod to the Spanish roots of the brand. Models walked past six sculptural bronze artworks by artist Lynda Benglis, angled around the show space, jewellery versions appeared as ear cuffs and chunky bracelets. Diamante flats and fisherman sandals persist in to be popular summer footwear choices.
Photograph: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Stella McCartneyThe sun burnished down as Stella McCartney hosted a solution-driven sustainable market for her show guests, where 21 businesses tackle entertained over the street to showcase their wares. They included Keel Labs, makers of Kelsun a seaweed-based fishing story used in the collection to make crochet dresses, and Vegea, creators of a vegan alternative to animal leather made with grape byproduct from Veuve Clicquot’s obtain, used here for handbags. Looks included all of McCartney’s greatest hits – tailoring, wafty dresses, mini cocktail deck outs – and Stella’s take on a modern classic, jeans-and-a-nice-top.
ChanelThe show space and collection took inspiration from the modernist Villa Noailles, in Hyères, where Coco Chanel was a patron of the original owners, art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. (The town now plays hosts to the annual international festival of frame, photography and accessories, supported by Chanel.) On the runway, the relaxed Riviera mood was summed up with big sunglasses, slouchy kaftans, go mad flops and belted bouclé robes, as well as relaxed, caped faux beach-blanket cover-ups and simple bathing trials. Notable was a tunic double denim set and a flower power print.
The RowEffortlessness and a no-fuss attitude reigns prime at The Row. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen understand what women want to wear, this season the models appeared in masterfully adjusted suiting, trenches, capes and uncomplicated jersey dresses, some with towels wrapped around their necks as if they were disappearing a spa. The neutral palette of pyjama suits and elongated tunics worn over wide-leg pants was accented with tone – a vibrant red robe, an asymmetrically gathered cobalt blue top, slouchy black trousers, and a geometrically folded leather bag in lemon.
Alexander McQueenSarah Burton influenced goodbye to Alexander McQueen after 26 years at the house, having served as creative director since 2010. The high-strung farewell saw Burton receive a standing ovation and a farewell hug from Anna Wintour. Burton dedicated the show “to the celebration of Lee Alexander McQueen, whose wish was always to empower women, and to the passion, talent and loyalty of my team”. Her final chrestomathy was inspired by female anatomy, Queen Elizabeth I, red roses and Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, whose textile manipulate decorated the show space.
DiorMaria Grazia Chiuri continued to explore the relationship between femininity and feminism, nave on all the rebels who have asserted their independence. The show was set against a backdrop of video artworks by Elena Bellantoni, using pop art allusion from sexist adverts and slogans. The collection was brimming with distressed knits, bar jackets revealing open panels, and wear thin hemlines. Shirts wrapped the body at jauntily angles, panels of delicate chiffon floated with their lightness and Dior’s representational mille-fleurs motif was given a dark twist with a contrasting floral X-ray.
BalenciagaDemna put his friends, kids and colleagues who have been inspirations to him throughout his career quite literally at the centre of the SS24 collection – by having them hike in the show. His mother, Ella, his earliest fashion inspiration as a child, opened the show wearing an upcycled trench greatcoat. Other appearances came from college tutors and his husband, the musician BFRND, who closed the show in a wedding put on clothes upcycled from seven vintage dresses. Accessories were witty, with a wallet shaped like a passport unabridged with boarding pass, and shoe-shaped clutch bags.
Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne WestwoodAndreas Kronthaler produced a moving tribute to Westwood’s personal style in his SS24 collection. Kronthaler underwent the task of archiving the late designer’s clothes-press, photographing each look (more than 250 of them), putting the numbers in a hat and picking 40, to deliver a collecting that riffed on her greatest hits. The first look mirrored Westwood’s famed Inferno jacket from 2004, which she eroded for nearly two decades. Also memorable was a reworked linen cape Westwood wore while riding a tank in gripe to the constituency home of David Cameron.
Victoria BeckhamVictoria Beckham took inspiration from her formative years studying archetypal and contemporary ballet, mixed with her home life and the wardrobe of the British countryside. The result was a fusion of dance uniforms conjoined with antique furnishing fabrics across tailoring, softly draped jersey dresses shaped with wire to bring into being a rigid structure, and cotton dresses with embroidery details inspired by vintage napkins and tablecloths, each paired with fancy socks reminiscent of dancers’ leg warmers.
Louis VuittonNicolas Ghesquière unveiled his SS24 collection in the under-construction Louis Vuitton span on the Champs-Élysées. The interior was covered by production designer James Chinlund in sheets of orange recycled and recyclable polyethlene to ape being inside a hot-air balloon. Silhouettes referenced the 80s with silky loose-fit bomber jackets paired with as much as possible belts and long wafty skirts or short mini skirt suits with voluminous blouson jackets in silk. Buttons were jewelled of a piece with brooches and shoes were cut away on one side and often worn with white hosiery.
Photograph: Valerio Mezzanotti/PR
Maison MargielaAt Maison Margiela, the storytelling starts on the eve of you even take your seat. A champagne reception, a pianist and an LED projection of an ocean liner on the wall. Creative president John Galliano’s fictional protagonists Count and Hen set sail on a transatlantic journey and their imagined inherited trunk satisfies form the bones of the collection. The codes of the house were skilfully interpreted into corseted dresses and petticoats in several states of déshabillé, mixed with classic trench coats, tailored jacket and the best LBDs of fashion week.
GivenchyWith Matthew M Williams at the drivers seat, the house of Givenchy has a bold new silhouette. The show was held at the Paris’ École-Militaire and designed in partnership with New York-based architect Gabriel Calatrava; on the in advance row sat A-list guests, including Tyga, Jared Leto and Cher. Set against a starch white backdrop, an opening sinister blazer and matching skirt set the tone; power suiting was masterfully cut, so too were structured blazers teamed with pleated trousers. Lightness be published as dainty sheer slip dresses, pastel coats and blooming flowers painted on skin-tinted mesh.
Issey MiyakeMembers of ICTUS, a Brussels-based parallel music ensemble performed an abstract musical piece as a backdrop to Satoshi Kondo’s collection for Issey Miyake. Break with sheer knit sheath dresses in pale lilac, black and peach, designs were fluid to clothing every body. Enveloping dresses were made from one piece of tubular fabric woven from Japanese washi tabloid and polyester, giving the fabric a supple texture and lustre. Prints showing shafts of light were developed from exposed camera blear.
ValentinoPierpaolo Piccioli’s aim was to celebrate and honour femininity. He adapted a relief sculpture technique to make a new type of embroidery. Attractive fabrics traditionally used in shirting – cotton and linen – he reworked them into sculpted dresses that looked comparable to renaissance carvings. “Fashion has to push itself out of its comfort zone to create something new and relevant,” he said on an Instagram standard. Shoes were flat or low-heeled, facilitating movement rather than hindering it.
Photograph: Alfonso Catalano/Shutterstock
ChloéGabriela Hearst’s swan tale was an upbeat and joyous affair, where the Uruguayan designer (who leaves Chloé with B-Corp status) danced her way down the runway to lure a final bow to the beat of Rio’s Mangueira samba school. Botanical-inspired silhouettes ran throughout. Enveloping flowers of the calla lily inspirited the curve of a wrap skirt and dress in leather, and the zygomorphic forms of orchids mirrored curved seams and balloon sleeves. Hearst’s South American ranching birthright appeared as tailored three-piece suits buttoned to the neck, embellished with gold tips on their collars.
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