Paris Fashion Week Ready to Wear AW12/13
Wrapping up on Wednesday 7 March, Paris Fashion Week Ready to Wear AW12/13 featured such mercurial designers as Miu Miu, Chanel, Valentino and Alexander McQueen. But it was Louis Vuitton who stole the show on the final day, harking back to the era of glamour and decadence by creating a life size replica of the Orient Express.
The locomotive rumbled into the auditorium, with models disembarking en masse, bags and porters trailing. A rather smart way to unburden the models, it also allowed Vuitton to show off a great deal more accessories and bags than a typical catwalk show. Interestingly, the program notes labelled the collection as ‘joyfully vulgar’ – an interesting choice of phrase for such a classical style.
Miu Miu and Chanel both embraced prints in their collections, with some striking examples of pantsuits and pants in bold stripes and colours. Lagerfeld outdid himself yet again, with dark, edgy, smoky looks complementing the layering of skinny pants under skirts. His fabric selection was typically Chanel – glamorous, yet timeless and understated.
An example of elegant, smart style was through Elie Saab’s collection. It began with a sense of strength, with sharp cuts and pantsuits dominating the mix. Flowing dresses, patterned with gold and shining fabrics followed this up. The models pulled off the styles with ease, with long, straight fringes matching the strong style in the collection.
The Haute Couture A/W 2012/2013 collection will be on show in Paris from Monday 2 July to Thursday 5 July 2012.
