PARIS — Yves Saint Laurent unveiled its newly restored 17th-century mansion atelier to a pack of astounded celebrities and fashionistas this week. Here are the fall-winter 2016 ready-to-wear show highlights, including show reports from Saint Laurent, Giambattista Valli, Hermes and Stella McCartney.
Saint Laurent unveils couture mansion
It’s no secret that designer Hedi Slimane is a secretive man.
But celebrities, including David Furnish and Catherine Deneuve, were bowled over as the designer unveiled the previously unannounced restoration of a 17th-century mansion — YSL’s new couture house and the venue for the ready-to-wear show.
The revamp — with sparkling marble staircases and crystal chandeliers — had been underway quietly in the prestigious Left Bank for the past year and a half, unknown to the fashion media.
In keeping with the classicism of the venue, Slimane chose to model the fall-winter show on Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent’s famed couture presentations.
With no music, and models walking the runway slowly and with poise, each look was announced by the iconic Benedicte de Ginestous, who announced all the YSL looks between 1977 and 2002, the year when the couture line finally closed.
Truly gone are the days of grunge at YSL, as Hedi Slimane’s presented a shimmering ode to the big-shouldered era of ’80s disco.
Almost each and every one of the 42 looks featured a micro mini.
Hair was slicked back, and the garish thick black eye makeup set the fashion dial firmly to the time of the New Romantics.
But, although this collection was fun — a Slimane trademark — with its touches of giant blue fox fur coats and fake-snake embroidered bronze silk minis, it was also replete with clever visual twists and accomplished artistry in the shoulder silhouette.
Slimane must have savored the irony between the lofty venue and the sparkling disco glitter of the clothes.
McCartney’s oversized abstractions
McCartney channeled the unexpected.
In a highly imaginative show that was more daring than usual, the British-American designer took familiar garments and styles and gave them a funky and glamorous twist.
Huge truncated bubble jackets bounced by alongside enveloping turtleneck gowns and huge wrap-around denim jackets.
The first look was among the best — a huge sleeveless bubble jacket in red velvet that oozed contradictory glamour.
Its stripy accordion pleats in the silk skirt riffed nicely on the model’s short hair — evoking the Roaring Twenties as immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby.”
The opulence of the venue — the grand, gilded hall of the Paris Opera — only added to the glitz.
But this collection also boasted hidden gems — one delicate peach gown with lace, pleats and a sheer section that sensually showed off the leg.
Proud father Sir Paul McCartney cheered from the front row next to his wife, Nancy Shevell, who wore embroidered Stella McCartney jeans with a ruffled cardigan and terra cotta coat.
Giambattista Valli’s fine needle
Lauded Italian designer Giambattista Valli got out his finest couture needle this season.
The result was an intricate and delicate collection of stripes and textures that was feminine and complex.
Myriad patterns on a tight-fitting ’60s skirt suit and coat-dress created a blurry, marbled image in black and white and blue.
The optical play was evoked further with a boot style that featured dozens of fine black straps fastening all the way to the knee.
Silhouettes didn’t stray from Valli’s bread-and-butter A-line mini look and floor-length cocktail gowns — but there were some stylish variations, such as a white A-line bib that hung like a fringe on a look worn by model-of-the-minute Gigi Hadid.
Hermes’ softness
Designer Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski showcased an archetypically soft, luxuriant show for style powerhouse Hermes.
A recurrent theme was angular sectionality.
The first looks — the fall-winter collection’s strongest — were in softest yellow ochre.
A stiff, three-dimensional sleeveless top sported flat interlocking panels above an ankle-length skirt with angular planes that evoked the motif of a herringbone floor.
Elsewhere, the French designer showed off her talent for the delicate.
A huggable fur tank top was tied with a soft black leather Obi-belt, and the fabric used in a series of cinched waist gray wool looks was so soft. It looked like the material had melted onto the model.
