Paris Fashion Week: The Best Trends & Sustainable Brands
Designers and brands at Paris Fashion Week 2020 certainly evoked important emotions and told stories through their collections that aligned with the zeitgeist. We are going to be presenting our favourite brands from fashion week and highlighting the top trends for SS/21.
TRENDS
EXCESS VOLUMES
It seemed that designers this year were really pushing the limits and conventions of volume when it came to sleeves, cuffs and trousers. Perhaps we are sartorially making up for the lack of normality with exaggerated proportions and creating amplified silhouettes to counteract our feelings… maybe! Schiapparelli bought us angelic sleeves with ample fabric while Loewe presented us billowing trousers with matching poofy cuffs.
APOCALYPSE COMING
There was a side to Paris Fashion Week that considered some type of dystopia. When overviewing looks from the show, it’s difficult not to feel as if some collections are well equipped for an apocalypse. A host of military-style straps, combat buckles and, in the case of Marine Serre, a form of body armour, all conveyed the desperation for apocalyptic uniform. The utilitarian look has been around for a while now and this trend confirms its existence a little longer.
DECONSTRUCTION
Many brands on the virtual runway played with deconstruction this fall, some of our favourites including Givenchy, Ottolinger and Acne. The concept of leaving a garment unfinished or deconstructing the final outcome through creating slits or holes is a very New Generation design approach. The irregular shapes of the garment created by ruching and gathering the textiles make for a unique piece—adding a new dimension to clothing.
OUR FAVOURITE SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
MIU MIU
Miu Miu threw us into a time warp back to the plaid mini skirt, athleisure days of 2000. We adore it. Their collection channelled a 90s/00s Paris Hilton aesthetic combined with iconic outfits from Clueless. The colour palette of hot pink, beige and soft yellow featured on the sporty-chic looks are a dream for the generation obsessed with retro fashion. Miu Miu may have really outdone themselves with this luxury throw-back collection.
OTTOLINGER
The beautifully wrapped, hung and tied strings used in this collection make the pieces appear perfectly unfinished and raw. Ottolinger have produced a collection with many inimitable profiles as the garments are produced through allowing the tension between the holes and string to create the structure of the garment and hold the wearer. We are thrown into an almost sci-fi atmosphere with this collection, irregular shapes and sheer upon silky textures.
MARINE SERRE
Marine Serre's collection acts as a set of characters from her SS/21 film entitled Amor Fati. The collection comprises of skin-tight garments which playfully nod toward super hero costumes with bursts of red and blue throughout. The signature moon print featured on the tailored blazers of the ‘surgeons’ from the film have received major publicity since featuring in Black Is King, Beyonce’s latest Visual Album. The entire collection of utility meets combat wear in trippy avatar patterns transports to a virtual reality world.
Despite the change to a digital focus this fashion week, we have not been left empty handed. The stories told and traditions challenged through our beloved Parisian designers will continue to fuel the progression of the fashion industry to become slower and more sustainable. We are excited to see what future fashion weeks bring us!
+ Words: Cerys Matthews, Luxiders Magazine Editor
