Paris Fashion Week: Fall Winter 2021 Review
Source: Forbes
Coperni FW ‘21
Straight at the end of the fashion month, Paris Fashion Week is always a delight to see. And rightfully so, as Parisians continue to claim their title as best dressed. With some of the most prolific designers from all over the world showcasing their designs, this year was no different. Albeit the difference this year can be attributed to pandemic restrictions; many designers got creative with platforms to show their collections. Many opted to debut with photographs and videos filmed previously, with few others choosing to show in-person shows as restrictions have continued in the fashion capital of the world.
Here are the best FW’21 fashion shows to come out of Paris this season.
Source: Vogue Runway
Continuing on his legacy as the pattern king from Antwerp, Belgian designer Dries Van Noten’s eponymous brand once again shows why he has earned cult-status. Despite approaching his elder years, now at the age of 62, Van Noten has fully embraced digital fashion week. He states, “I don’t know if I’m going to feel the need to do a fashion show. If we are going to do them, it’s not going to be in the same way as before. I think this time is over, and nobody has the need to see a circus like that again.” Van Noten embodied the Roaring-2020s in a post-vaccinated world, with higher than heaven boots and flapper attire inspiration galore.
With a collection evoking the 90’s Belgian fashion culture, Van Noten helped solidify the glamorous looks and emotions that took center stage. A glove-patterned trench gives Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) a chicer print, a feather-outlined coat stuns in navy blue, glossy blue shimmers across a club-ready suit, and neoclassical green sleeves with silky pink wrists for a belted jacket. Floral patterns in firetruck red and neon pink stand out, with the same rosy red utilized for a jacket evoking feelings of amore.
Schiaparelli
Source: Vogue Runway
As creative director of Schiaparelli, Daniel Roseberry has continued to push the envelope at the historical, surrealist fashion Maison. In particular, his accessories have become sold-out favorites for all the fashion crew to fight over. One of the main questions when examining Schiaparelli is: “How weird is too weird?” According to Roseberry, there is no such thing as too weird. Taking his designs the distance of fashion as wearable art has proven beautifully for the American. Think of Lady Gaga’s showstopping outfit for her performance at Joe Biden’s Inauguration; the red, white, and blue outfit paired with the golden dove brooch was a Roseberry-creation.
This season was a continuation of artistic freedom that showcase Roseberry’s and Schiaparelli’s shared vision of subverting the expected. A simple Canadian tuxedo opened at the back was embellished with buttons of noses, nipple rings, shells, keyholes, and ears. Rings and pins for the hair similarly embrace the Maison's history of using unique buttons such as peanuts, wrenches, hammers, birds, and insects. Amongst the most radical designs are a quilted jacket with golden breast overlay, a white button-down with embossed breasts, foot-high shoes with golden toes, breast handbags, and golden fleece headgear.
Loewe
Source: Vogue Runway
As the oldest fashion Maisons in the LVMH hat of luxury, Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe continue to leave people captivated. Anderson’s work at the Spanish brand draws upon couture elements despite being ready to wear. Always stepping up his game every time from his previous show Anderson infuses modern-day codes of craftsmanship, well-tailored looks, and movement that hold true to the Loewe heritage. Everything you could ever want or not know you want, Anderson provides it. And the creative director started doing IG videos explaining his collection to the audience directly, which is a breath of fresh air of the typically filtered-out publication conversations.
Anderson says, “Fashion is going to be important in the next while, in making people gain the confidence of going back out and dressing up again. The whole point of this collection is: believe it, and it will happen.” Following the trend of embracing the Roaring 2020’s beauty and over-the-top opulence, Anderson showcased a collection that is itching for a post-pandemic world. Regality is the form of avant-garde leather harness, fringe-matador dresses with color blocking for maximum fun, mood-changing criss-cross prints, and dresses with chest pieces that visually stimulate. Other more wearable looks include a king-blue pantsuit and a canary leather trench.
Paco Rabanne
Source: Vogue Runway
Julien Dossena’s tenure at Paco Rabanne draws on freshness and fun to reinvigorate the house's space-age aesthetic. Known all around the world for the chainmail dress, Paco Rabanne’s usage of post-war industrial materials fueled the house’s futuristic production of garments. Today, Dossena has made the house haute again by ushering in a new era of fabulous. Combining the high and low with uptown and downtown, the Paco Rabanne girl is sophisticated yet edgy; she’s so chic, she doesn’t even know she’s chic.
Taking retro glam to the max, sparkles, jewels, and Parisian eccentricity scatter the collection in a hedonistic way. Alongside French Vogue photography by Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton, Princess Diana is one of Dossena’s core inspirations for the photographs—the designer confirmed he has been bingeing The Crown alongside the rest of us. An Emerald green velvet jacket, crystal jewelry chest pieces with chainmail skirts, English-lady tweet coats, and 60’s red dot patterns come to life. Dossena says, “We talked in the studio about how it’s been almost like when you’re still a young teenager, and your parents won’t allow you out at night—but you’re dreaming of what it will be like when you can go out.”
While fashion month has its unique set of trials and tribulations, the scenes at Paris have proven that fashion will continue to reign supreme as restrictions and lockdowns slowly ease up. No matter what challenges await the world as a slow decline in COVID-19 cases continues, the joys that fashion can bring humanity are unmatched. After all, fashion is the only medium of wearable art that tells the story of human creativity and culture. And perhaps, that is why many of us have clung to fashion during these unpredictable times.