Paris Fashion Week: Isabel Marant, Loewe, Off-White, and More

by Daniel Chivu

Isabel Marant Spring/Summer 2017
The perennial authority of cool-girl Parisian chic, Isabel Marant has a knack for translating the season’s hautest trends and making them accessible to young in-the-know girls around the world. She also has an uncanny ability to create an “It” item. Her wedged sneaker heels are impossible to forget, her Birkenstock-style studded thong sandals made the rounds, her tribal minis, her anoraks…the list goes on. Her shiny silver fabrics in anoraks and mini skirts were also a hit from last season so she brought that material back in a ruffled dress and anorak top. A quilted cream jacket worn as a dress on Gigi Hadid which opened the show was the kind of thing you want to live in, and a white blouse with exaggerated ruffles and denim man pants is a look being touted on the street style stars. You can expect all of these pieces to become insta-hits once they make their way into stores. And those shoes? Another icon has been established in those ruffled heels and sandals.

Rick Owens Spring/Summer 2017
Romance and optimism done the Rick Owens way. Although he titled the collection Walrus, the clothing would suggest just the opposite of such a creature. There was a fragility in the protective swathing of fabric in these pretty pieces, and “pretty” is not a word you often think of from a man like Owens, who has sent human backpacks down his runway and male tunics cut to reveal their nether regions. But this was a new Rick. There was hardly any darkness or edge, and some of these pieces, dare we say, felt glamorous. The crowning pieces were the ostrich feather capes that floated softly but dramatically down the runway. Those were crafted through the Parisian specialist Maison Lemarié, known for their work with plumes. The delicate side of Rick Owens was a sweet success.

Off-White Spring/Summer 2017
“My generation, I don’t even know what my friends do,” Virgil Abloh told VogueRunway. “But we’re all eating at Nobu and traveling to Paris.” God bless. Those that have met Abloh know he’s not being pretentious, but just making a cultural observation on the way “the game” is no longer being played. Just the other day we overheard a barely twentysomething proclaim that, “Hardly any of my friends that have just graduated want a desk job.” Which is why Abloh was thinking about the modern day working girl and what office attire might mean for her. There was an assym suiting dresses worn with a baseball cap that read “Women” and a red suit jacket paired with matching track pants, which could have looked like any sharp business number if not for the street-style references. A silk evening dress came with a white fanny pack instead of a clutch, and quite frankly, it looked chic and useful. Then there were the statement-making pieces, like two looks worn on mod du moment Selena Forrest that opened and closed the show: a pinstripe suiting shirt with an enormous oversized ruffle worn with that now instantly recognizable Off-White denim and a Harlequin-printed evening dress made for a snap-happy moment. Somehow this collection felt like a grown-up step forward for Abloh, while still maintaining his ironclad grip on youth culture.

Loewe Spring/Summer 2017
Set against the backdrop of a video by artist Magali Reus, titled “Offshore,” Jonathan Anderson’s collection for Loewe had a rustic Island appeal. There were easy balloon sleeve dresses with drawstrings that looked like a Victorian undergarment; another dress was made of patched-together table cloth-style material; tribal looking tassels adorned long, oversized sleeves; and a shift dress mimicked Amazon greenery. And while the clothing was incredible, the accessories packed the most punch. All of nature’s fauna came oversized, like giant ceramic bats and calfskin calla lily’s that sprouted from cuff bracelets. Plus, the brand debuted two new “It” bags including the Hammock bag and the rounded trapeze-shaped Canoe bag. Plenty of interesting pieces to bank on for Spring.

 

Issey Miyake Spring/Summer 2017
Issey Miyake’s staying power is mostly owed to the brand’s easy silhouettes for women, which came in all sizes in eccentric but not over-the-top patterns and colors. The cultural cross-section of traditional Japanese silhouettes and patterns mixed with the African prints looked visually powerful while still feeling so easy that you could wear these pieces anywhere, anytime.

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