A SENSE OF TIME, A SENSE OF PLACE: COUTURE A/W 2014

We tend to think of fashion as an ever-movable feast: never resting in the same place twice. Trends come and go at a dizzying pace, setting off in pursuit of the brave and the new. But look closer, and fashion is rooted in tradition far more than a first glance would suggest.
Couture week is the most visible marker of that tradition: handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces that communicate that fashion is not just the work of single moments – flashes of brilliance that are gone in an instant – but something altogether more substantial.
Couture is often seen as the preserve of the super-rich, but this season’s collections spoke of a more collective experience: a heritage of craft and skill that offers a unique perspective on what we wear, and why we wear it.
A sense of history informed many of the key shows, with couture houses going back to their roots. While some (Giorgio Armani) celebrated milestones, other had their gaze firmly fixed on what lies ahead.

DIOR
Held at the Rodin Museum, Raf Simons’ collection for Dior Couture took us on a time-travelling journey; presenting ideas in small groups of 8-10 looks, Simons challenged us to both focus and broaden our minds.
Moving from the wide, pannier skirts of the 18th century to delicate, buttoned Edwardian cuffs, Simons introduced elements of the modern with sports luxe: silk jumpsuits and sporty tops mingled readily with ballgowns accessorised with silver bangles. The collection was untraditional from the get-go – starting with statement ballgowns, a couture staple normally reserved for a fashion big finish.
Pairing floor-grazing cashmere coats with flat shoes, this was Dior’s attempt at laidback luxury – a trend that has made serious headway since Karl Lagerfeld sent his models down last season’s couture catwalk in logo-embossed trainers. More than a passing fad, this proved to be couture’s way of translating its history of formality into a modern language of comfort. You can see this idea working its way onto the high street, with stores such as Zara producing wearable, adaptable pieces that slot into an existing wardrobe, turning us away from the buy-now, wear-once philosophy and turning us onto the habit of making considered pieces. Simons’ easy luxury will continue to see this way of dressing permeate the high street – giving us more, while we buy less.

VERSACE
While Dior added to its history, Atelier Versace had clearly spent the last six months sketching out a whole new chapter. Wowing industry insiders across the board, as precision-cut tailoring (sharp shoulders and sleek skirts) gave way to reveal plunging necklines and thigh-high slits, Versace was not only on form – it was on fire.
Versace, with this collection, was saying to the world that not only is it a fashion house in great economical shape, but a creative hub at the peak of its powers. This was couture on Versace’s terms – and their bold, sexy signature style in couture was a killer move. The Versace philosophy has always lent itself to big statements – but this was a statement of cool, creative confidence; made all the more striking when you consider that Atelier Versace only returned to the Paris runways a few years ago.
The influence of Versace’s super-feminine pieces will be a key feature this coming Autumn, with preview collections for A/W 2014 already showing long, fitted skirts; taking the maxi from boho chic to smart, tailored sophistication.
The supernova success of the Versace show has even led the fashion press to speculate that the Italians are beating the French at their own game, with Armani Prive producing a knockout collection in red and black. Forget the World Cup – this was the play-off really worth watching.

CHANEL
Chanel’s answer to Versace was a tutoring in fashion history, courtesy of Karl Lagerfeld.
It’s often said that history is important as it is impossible to know where you are going, if you don’t know where you have come from – and nowhere is this truer than in the history of fashion.
Playing on its own history, Chanel Couture offered up intricately-worked tweed coats and jackets, with baroque swirls of gold on hems and collars. Tightly-buttoned sleeves and scruffy urchin hair mixed 18th century detail with Charles Dickens’ Artful Dodger – gleeful couture that created modern notes with bags slung across the body and ribboned flats: tailor-made for women who want a little compromise in their haute couture. This was history and modernity coming together to create a clear sense of direction.
While couture-like workmanship can’t be reproduced on the high street, Chanel’s big story was texture: whether that was in fabric or embellishment, this was fashion that jumped right off the page. Expect to see 3D everywhere – from trophy jackets to stellar eveningwear.
As couture continues to wield its influence over the high street, it seems that predictions of its demise during the global recession were greatly exaggerated. Couture exceeded all expectations by adapting, and not only survived, but actively thrived.
Couture’s historical roots are the best argument for its continued survival – craftsmanship was the overriding theme of this season’s shows – proudly displaying what can only be created by hand. This is fashion designed to stand up to scrutiny in a way that ready-to-wear simply cannot. It is no longer enough to look at the individual cost of couture, but to understand the value of couture, is to understand its collective worth. Oscar Wilde said that a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing – and this season’s couture collections were notable for their bracing lack of cynicism. Couture returned to the sheer, unabashed joy of creating for its own sake – and the result was a season full of fresh, bold and exciting ideas.
Couture survives because it is tradition, but a tradition that sets its sights on what’s to come. Fashion will always have flashes of brilliance, but for the truly great ideas, the ones that persuade us to change what we wear and why we wear it, couture remains king.

HELEN TOPE

ELEGANT PRECISION: HAUTE COUTURE (AUTUMN 2013)

Valentino Couture (Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccoli)

Ever since Valentino’s departure in 2008, the challenge has been how to keep the iconic Italian label contemporary. In demand by royalty since the 1960’s (that’s showbiz and political royalty along with the real thing), Valentino has been for decades, a byword for elegance.

Meeting that challenge head-on, Chiuri and Piccoli have rewritten Valentino’s template for glamour. Bringing together top-notch workmanship with Medieval and Baroque references, this season’s couture collection was a history lesson in every sense of the word. Taking Valentino’s solid reputation as its base, the collection built on this with layers of tweed and cashmere, overlaid with exquisitely-worked embroidery. The silhouette of choice was regal elegance: high-necks, full, splaying skirts and cinched waists. This really was a collection fit for a princess, filled with detail, dresses and capes were covered with hand-stitched motifs of seashells and coral. This was off-centre glamour; created for women who want an elegant and precise mode of couture. Haute Couture has sometimes garnered a reputation for excess and grandeur: here the Valentino team created modern couture for the modern woman, mastering the art of business with beauty.

Elie Saab Couture (Elie Saab)

If Valentino is famous for kitting out royalty, then Elie Saab is surely the ultimate destination for film stars wanting to prep for the red-carpet.

Synonymous with sparkle and shine, Saab has been a regular fixture on the red-carpet ever since his rose-strewn gown was worn by Halle Berry to the 2002 Oscars. Saab has been known as a red-carpet favourite for over a decade now, with starlets and more established names alike opting for his glamour-packed gowns.

However, this season’s collection, while hitting all the high notes one would expect from Saab, got there by taking a different route.

The embellishments, Saab’s calling card, were presented with a crucial element of restraint.  With a darker palette of dove-grey, maroon and navy blue, the sparkle was toned down and replaced by an emphasis on form. Google any of Saab’s previous collections, and you’ll soon notice that volume plays a large part in creating an impact.  A Saab gown is unapologetic about taking up space on a red-carpet. But if you look at this season’s collection, the voluminous skirts are replaced by a simpler silhouette. The Elie Saab dress now takes tailoring as its starting point, and the embellishments, whilst still present, are applied with a restraint that creates a PR-friendly brand of conservative elegance that’s perfect for the post-recession red carpet. Meeting the ever-complex needs of his clientele, Elie Saab’s latest collection is a masterclass on how couture delivers results.

Chanel Couture (Karl Lagerfeld)

With models emerging from a shining, glittering metropolis to take to the runway, Karl Lagerfeld made it very clear within the opening seconds of his show that his eye was firmly set on the future.

Futuristic, modern touches were everywhere in this Chanel collection: metallic thread was woven into the body of the iconic Chanel tweed jackets; geometric prints matched with sequinned skirts and boxy, squared-off silhouettes set the tone.

The most interesting aspect of the collection, however, was Karl’s take on proportion. Layering cropped jackets over tunics, leggings and boots, this workable approach to winter layers used tone-on-tone to create a look that felt unified and coherent. Adding grunge-chic texture for interest, Karl’s idea for figure-friendly layering is already proving to be a winner, with many fashion pundits dubbing this the look of the season.

Dior Couture (Raf Simons)

If there was one word you could take away from Raf Simons’ third collection for Dior Couture, it was ‘multi-cultural’.

Using the Dior staples (the Bar jacket, houndstooth print and the black wool day dress), Simons transformed them with African beading and Japanese tailoring. This was a play on fashion semantics; taking our expectations of Dior Couture and inverting them. Featuring African prints with Japanese obi-belts, this was Dior speaking an international language. As couture moves into new territories (and new cultures), Simons predicts how fashion will absorb these ideas and translate them into a new definition of luxury. This collection was clever and proof that Raf Simons (along with Karl Lagerfeld) is keeping an eye on what’s to come.

Atelier Versace (Donatella Versace)

Atelier Versace opened the couture season with a bang, choosing Naomi Campbell to open their show. Walking for the label for the first time in 15 years, this was a show-opener with maximum impact.

Again, Versace’s show was punctuated with a mood of restraint and subtlety (or at least, subtlety by Versace standards). The sexy silhouette of the Italian label was out in full force, with lace jumpsuits and corsets taking the lead, with the show-stopping sequinned gowns following behind to provide the big finish.

The high-octane glamour, though, was tempered by use of a sober palette: the acid-yellows and neon pinks of last Spring were replaced by forest greens and petrol blues. It was still dishing up glamazon fierceness, the Versace badge of honour, but this was Versace contained; an altogether different animal. This was not Versace tamed – merely a Versace more inclined to win your over by seduction, rather than stealth. The pieces we recognise as being hallmark Versace were re-arranged to create a fresh interpretation of an old standard.

This was a common theme in many of the couture collections: how to make couture, according to British Vogue, ‘relevant in a modern world’. It is a mistake to think of couture as the cumbersome, slow-moving Leviathan to its swifter cousin, ready-to-wear. Couture has been the branch of the fashion industry quickest to respond and adapt to the challenges of dressing a recessionist world. In 2008, haute couture was predicted to be the first casualty of the global recession. Five years later, it is stronger than ever, with new couture houses such as Giambattista Valli joining the more familiar names of Chanel and Dior.

A delicate balance has been struck this season; in-between the bold strokes of creativity essential for couture, and a tempered accessibility required by its new clientele. The idea of handcrafted fashion may seem like one that belongs to another age, but what was shown this season, is that couture can stay in the game by changing its ideas.  By trading on its strengths and not playing it safe, couture has weathered the recession not because it is necessary, but because it is beautiful, and in fashion, beauty is the easiest sale of all.

HELEN TOPE

IN PRAISE OF….THE EIGHTIES

Fashion’s taste for the extreme has been well documented over the years. It’s no secret that high fashion prides itself on making a big impact, and sometimes, when everyone else is out there selling their idea to editors, buyers and stylists, there’s no option but to go bigger. But what no-one could have predicted five years ago is the seismic shift in our attitudes towards these grand sartorial statements.

Once upon a time high fashion was the stuff of dreams – undeniably beautiful, but hardly practical. But in 2008, as the world experienced its biggest financial meltdown for a generation, high fashion found itself having to make a decision. Continue as they were, or try to adapt. Those that adapted went for simpler shapes, more consumer-friendly colour palettes. Even Marc Jacobs produced a famous collection filled with buy-now, wear-forever pieces. Beautiful? Yes. Wearable in real life? Absolutely. We clamoured to get our hands on pieces that would more than pay for themselves in terms of cost-per-wear. Camel coats, shearling jackets and classic totes became the uniform of the early part of the recession: a dose of comforting, recognisable fashion that felt like it would last forever.  The classic pieces didn’t feel like an indulgence, they felt like an investment. And to anyone who’s ever tried to justify a pair of Jimmy Choos, you will know the difference.

But as the recession dragged on, the taste for comfort began to wane. We began to grow a little restless, wanting something more than the unyielding good taste of a Karl Donoghue shearling gilet or YSL Cabas tote. The danger of timeless, classic fashion became apparent: we got bored. We wanted colour, and print, and a silhouette that challenged us to be braver, not safer. In search of what we craved, we voted with our cash.

The big surprise of the recession has been fashion consumers’ exodus from their sartorial comfort zone of classic pieces. They no longer want comfort – they want innovation. Individual pieces and limited editions have soared in popularity with new designers doing particularly well. A famous example of this is the Topshop collaboration with Mary Katrantzou: Mary’s eclectic take on print makes her a thoroughly modern choice for the high-street chain but just a few years ago; it would have been a high-risk venture. But Katrantzou’s collection has been a huge hit, both online and in store. Mary’s centrepiece, the ceramic print dress with the bell-shaped skirt, has been eagerly coveted by both consumer and celebrity: at first glance, it is not an easy piece to wear, but the print and the cut charm you by stealth. It takes the popularity of the dress as a one-step fashion item to its next logical step: the dress as fashion statement writ large.

You don’t have to look too far back into fashion history to see where this fearlessness comes from.  The 1980’s saw the gap between rich and poor widen; great leaps forward in technology and new alliances making a play for the political stage: it all sounds remarkably familiar. Against such a backdrop of turmoil and change you might expect Eighties fashion to play it cool, not get too ahead of itself. But of course Eighties fashion, with its bright colours, bold shapes and power dressing that would become the defining look of the decade, are keynotes in sheer bravura. This was fashion purely of its time: not designed to last forever, but to make an impact while it could. In terms of stamping its identity on the decade, it was mission accomplished. The puffball skirt, the jumpsuit and the stiletto – all three have seen their fortunes rise and fall in the past 30 years with a recent revival making the stiletto again the hottest heel for Autumn 2012. While Eighties fashion may have initially burned bright and faded fast, it gave us a permanent reminder that style doesn’t have to be in ‘good taste’ to be effective, or a ‘classic’ to have longevity. It was a game-changing strategy in survival.

Fashion, drawn larger than life, appears to be the perfect formula for battling through tough economic times. It is not only the cheering effect of bright colours and fun micro-trends like tribal and body jewellery, but the enduring nature of fashion in wanting to push us into moving forward even at the times where all we want to do is hunker down and hold our positions. Fashion is inspiring us to progress, not to stagnate. It challenges us to dream a little bigger, and dress a little bolder. But most of all, fashion is telling us to live in the present; not putting it off in the hope that tomorrow will be better. In times where there are no guarantees, banking on what’s to come seems like a risky prospect. Fashion’s big idea this season is very simple: it doesn’t matter how you do it, just go for it: dress for now.

HELEN TOPE

IN PRAISE OF…COUTURE

While the rest of us struggle with the January blues, fashion is firmly in 2012 with couture season ending this week in Paris. Traditionally worn by socialites, couture’s fanbase has somewhat shifted over the years, taking in new pockets of wealth from around the globe.  Once described as a dying art, haute couture has had a new lease of life in recent years with Hollywood coming to Paris, hungry for a taste of the most exclusive fashion in the world. The Armani Prive show got its very own Hollywood moment when Jessica Chastain got the Oscar call whilst seated in the front row. Armani has a long history in dressing Hollywood, and the Prive collection has proved incredibly popular. This season’s collection was tailor-made for starlets, with sequinned bodices and incredible beaded gowns in glorious shades of green. The silver chevron gown in particular was a winner, just begging for a chance to shine on the red-carpet.

The most controversial note of the week was struck by Jean Paul Gaultier. Forming an entire collection in tribute to singer Amy Winehouse, from the trademark peroxide sweep in the models’ beehived hair to the pencil skirts worn with attitude, this was a collection with a sole purpose. Celebrating Amy’s unique style, which so neatly dovetailed with her music, Gaultier may have hit the headlines but this act was far from cynical. Gaultier’s collection had a poignancy that hit you right between the eyes, asking us just one question – what if?

While JPG was exploring the past, Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel was setting his sights squarely on the future. The light, airy feel of icy-blue and deepest navy formed the perfect backdrop for Lagerfeld’s newest take on femininity. Drop-waists on dresses, slouchy pockets and hair sculpted into sky-high quiffs – this was Chanel in familiar territory: boy meets girl. A welcome departure from Chanel’s previous post-apocalyptic seasons, this collection was bright, breezy and above all else, very, very cool.

Winning the prize for sheer number of hours spent on the sewing floor, Valentino’s design duo, Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri, took craftsmanship to the next level. With a reported 350 hours spent creating just one piece, the result was a couture show packed with ethereal, heart-stopping detail. Taffeta, lace and organza took centre stage but underpinning the whole collection was the reminder that these dream-like creations were made by hand. Ever y piece was so finely stitched, those who examined the pieces up close at the atelier, had to remind themselves that this was all human endeavour. Piccoli and Chiuri first made their name as accessory designers, and as they told www.style.com, they quickly learned how to ‘tell a big story with a small object.’ It is in the small details that the big picture comes to life, and this is the essence of couture. Piccoli and Chiuri understand very clearly how story-telling in fashion can come down to the smallest stitch.

With Chanel, Valentino, Armani and Versace appearing in such good health, it seems that reports of couture’s demise have been greatly exaggerated: in 2009, haute couture was deemed to be on the brink of extinction. After all, in a financial maelstrom, who would possibly want a blouse at £20,000? But three years later, couture is thriving thanks to new customers in China, Russia and beyond. There has been murmurs about whether this has led to a more consumer-friendly couture, rather than the wild, playful exploration of ideas it was ten years ago, but the deal with couture is that it can be both.  From Riccardo Tisci’s Metropolis-inspired, highly restrained collection to the glamazon excesses at Versace, the beauty of couture is that there is room for every kind of expression. This is no time for half-measures – fashion needs diversity in order to survive. Couture is no longer about indulgence, but fearless, game-changing creativity. Haute Couture has evolved into an entirely different kind of animal, and its timing is perfect.

HELEN TOPE