The Standout Shows from Paris Fashion Week

Valentino

Pierpaolo Piccioli took a risqué gamble at his new Valentino show; he used just one colour – a zingy, bespoke Pantone pink – on all the garments, bar a short interlude of blacks. “I wanted to use one colour to highlight fashion as cut, design, silhouette, shapes, volumes, textures,” he said. “You’re kind of obliged to see more. To go a bit deeper.”

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Balenciaga

Demna’s latest Balenciaga show – where models marched doggedly through an artificial blizzard in a spherical weather tank – was the most talked-about (and Instagrammed) show of Paris Fashion Week, which represented a very personal response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The war in Ukraine has triggered the pain of a past trauma I have carried in me since 1993, when the same thing happened in my country and I became a forever refugee,” wrote Demna in an accompanying letter. “Forever, because that’s something that stays in you. The fear, the desperation, the realisation that no one wants you.”

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Ludovic de Saint Sernin

Just like Donatella Versace, Rick Owens and Marc Jacobs before him, Ludovic de Saint Sernin wants to be the physical embodiment of his brand. Think of him as a walking billboard for the LDSS lifestyle – in his A/W22 show, he walked amongst boys and girls (including Gigi and Bella Hadid) in sexy, earthy brown shirts, chainmail vests, and sheer halter necks that mimicked de Saint Sernin’s own outfits.

Miu Miu

It’s difficult to remember a time when one item of clothing achieved the level of world domination that the Miu Miu miniskirt is currently enjoying; there’s Nicole Kidman wearing it on the cover of Vanity Fair, Paloma Elsesser on the cover of i-D, or Hailey Bieber in the brand’s new, Tyrone Lebon-shot campaign. Miuccia Prada is not done with it just yet, and why should she be? It reappeared in Miu Miu’s new show – in sporty white and navy iterations, or double-belted in plaid – on both men and women.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Loewe

Ever since he debuted his internet-breaking crushed-egg heels for S/S22, Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe has taken on a surrealist tilt; the new show featured Jeff Koons-esque balloons wrapped like sausages in a dress, providing comical support for breasts, or squished into the straps of heels. These are clothes that make an avant-garde artistic statement – and look great online.

Chanel

Tweed was front and centre at Virginie Viard’s Chanel, and rightly so; no one in fashion history has done as much for the rough cloth as Gabrielle Chanel, who turned it from dowdy to dapper with her glittering, glamorous tweed jackets. The material held a special place in Chanel’s heart – she often wore the Duke of Westminster’s tweed jackets in Scotland, who was her lover, during the 1920s. “There’s nothing sexier than wearing the clothes of the person you love,” explained Viard.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Saint Laurent

At Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello sent models out into the night past the Eiffel Tower in exquisite, overblown evening gear; the highly glamorous collection mixed gauzy, floor-length black dresses with shaggy fur coats, and of course, a modern version of Yves Saint Laurent’s immortal Le Smoking tuxedo.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Ottolinger

Azealia Banks’ brazen ode to the runway formed the soundtrack for Ottolinger’s new show, which took place digitally in a labyrinthine, inflatable black set. Berlin-based designers Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient sent models out in a series of rugged, puffy silhouettes that had a club-ready dash of Berghain and Burning Man to them.

Rick Owens

“During times of heartbreak, beauty can be one of the ways to maintain faith,” said Rick Owens of his A/W22 show, which saw angelic raised shoulders, tops that appeared to strangulate models like boa constrictors, and skeletal, fluoro thigh-high boots. A cult favourite amongst critics and designers for his independence and ability to match the moment, Owens knocked it out of the park as per usual.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

Givenchy

“I really wanted to create a synthesis of powerful, sophisticated femininity, with an interplay of multiple American and Parisian influences, sports and craftsmanship,” said Matthew M Williams of his latest Givenchy show. In the extraordinary La Défense space, the ever-prescient balaclava nodded to how we swathe our faces post-Covid, while jeans came either ripped or encrusted with pearls – an apt visual metaphor for Williams’ approach to luxury at Givenchy.

Louis Vuitton

At the Musée d’Orsay, Nicolas Ghesquière staged a Louis Vuitton show that explored the exciting, formative years when one morphs from teenager to adult. “Testing. Trying. Playing. Knowing. Wearing. Desiring … Wanting it all,” he wrote in the show notes. True to form, floral dresses, T-shirts and jumpers were printed with minimalist, achingly cool David Sims images from the 1990s – the time when Ghesquière came of age.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.

The Row

The Row is one of those rare brands that let the clothes speak for themselves. This season, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen did not issue a press release, but their sumptuous cashmere jumpers, blanketed coats and extra-long sleeve shirts needed no comment – after all, in the world of minimalist fashion, less is more.

Off-White

At the start of Virgil Abloh’s posthumous Off-White show, a voiceover of Pharrell waxing lyrical about sharing knowledge and giving ‘the codes’ blared out into the room. “I think the universe puts us in this position because it knows we’re gonna give back,” he said – a sentiment which Abloh championed fiercely during his life. Supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Karen Elson circled an enormous, decadent chandelier hovering in the centre of the room – Abloh, as usual, was lighting the way.

Margaret Howell

Margaret Howell celebrated its 50th birthday two years ago – over the past five decades, the beloved British designer has fiercely resisted the changing tides of fashion trends with her functional, unfussy workwear. Howell’s new collection, released digitally during Paris Fashion Week, featured a reassuring assortment of macs and waterproof trousers to help shield from the harsh British weather, berets, and some earth-coloured roll-neck jumpers.

Dior

At Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri fused old-fashioned silhouettes with futuristic, high-tech garments – clothes were inserted with mini airbags, LED lights, and body-temperature regulating gear. Womanhood and femininity is a constant theme in Chiuri’s Dior – who can forget her ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ T-shirts – and here, she proved that clothes need not just look good – they can also do good.

Read Alexander Fury’s feature on the show here.