Paris Fashion Week: Days 3 and 4

RICK OWENS
Snow bunnies: The Rick Owens version. Models came swathed in cozy sleeping bags and crowned with bunny ears and hats (resembling elephant trunks) made of sweatshirt material. We need this look to fight next year’s winter vortex or to give us warm fuzzy feelings that insulate us from the oWild West of politics. In any case, this seemed like a softer side of Rick. That’s not saying it wasn’t dark, but we miss Owens’ more eccentric show antics. But it can’t be easy to follow up on human body bags, peek-a-boo penises, and step dance crews, after all.

ISABEL MARANT
There they are! The boots and heels of the season. Marant’s clothes are as desirable as her shoes, but when it comes to the latter, she creates hit after hit. Her thigh-high slouch boots and crystal-encrusted heels worn with sparkly socks should be relatively more accessible than versions seen elsewhere, and therefore, they will be everywhere. Otherwise, there were some of Marant’s usual bohemian references—this time in calf-grazing prairie dresses and graphic folk print coats. But the coolest ready-to-wear ideas were around suiting, like an oversized blazer and flowing dress made of suiting material for when the bohemian must become boss.

OFF-WHITE
“Nothing New” was the name of Virgil Abloh’s Fall 2017 collection. It was in reaction to Raf Simons’ prickly interview with GQ Style in which he says he is not inspired by Abloh, who he doesn’t think is presenting anything new. “He’s a sweet guy. I like him a lot actually,” Simons told GQ Style. “But I’m inspired by people who bring something that I think has not been seen, that is original. It’s not always about being new-new because who is new-new?” Regardless, designers are always presenting something that has, in fact, been seen before but attempt to rework it as something new. What matters is whether it creates resonance with the consumer. These are businesses, after all, and according to every major retailer, Off-White is the one label they have a hard time keeping in stock. It’s also impossible to deny Abloh’s influence on culture even before Off-White’s creation.

If you are of the fashion-obsessed milieu, you can spot Off-White’s black and white striped branding anywhere…even incorporated into a fur coat. This season, his famous ringed jeans were turned into a sure-to-sell-out skirt. But there were far less of the street references here than before, and it looked like Abloh was going in a somewhat—you guessed it—new direction. The best pieces, other than the aforementioned, were the check print ensembles, a black leather and cobalt velvet jacket and matching mini skirt, and a pair of wide-leg silver pants toned down with a neutral romantic chiffon tunic top. New-new, new, or not new, it was fresh retail gold.