As Paris Haute Couture presentations have come to a close, we’re taking a look back at the Spring/Summer 2022 collections debuted from Fendi, Schiaparelli, and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Courtesy of Fendi.
A moody, smoke-filled runway set the tone for Fendi’s Spring/Summer 2022 couture debuts, which looked to the history of Rome as the inspiration for an otherworldly experience. Powerful and statuesque silhouettes in black, white, navy, and red emitted a regal elegance that harnessed the energy of the city’s iconic stone figures—also seen as graphics, hand-painted onto dresses and imagined as prints. Infusing the garments with a fantastical touch were elements like capes and trains, one-shouldered drapery, and detailing including ornate embroidery, stripes of glittering sequins, and textural velvet and silk. Standout ensembles included a pants-and-jacket set reminding us of Renaissance suiting with its high neck and puffed sleeves, a short white cape painted with the body of a stone statue styled with a flowery white necklace and matching stilettos, and a stone-hued strapless silhouette that brushed the floor with layers of chiffon and intricate lace.
Courtesy of Schiaparelli.
For “An Age of Discipline,” Schiaparelli presented wearable artworks that questioned what surrealism is when our own perception of reality has been so jolted. The maison turned to an instinctual, elemental palette of black, white, and gold as the channel to execute its celestial silhouettes. The avant-garde, sculptural shapes saw details like sharp tulle ruffles, coned bodices, and rigid, sloping lines with details extending away from the wearer’s body. Reminding us of Catholic iconography and historic fashion were heavenly halos of gold, wide-brimmed hats adorned in crosses, and exaggeratedly large collars. Looks we won’t soon forget included a construction of gold and jewels that appeared to engulf the wearer in glittering rays of sun, a simple white column gown with an enormous embellished collar in black velvet;,and a pair of clean tailored trousers worn with a gold bodice that encircled the wearer in swirls of floating metal, like the rotation of a solar system
Jean Paul Gaultier by Glenn Martens, photos by Arnauld Lajeunie.
Jean Paul Gaultier’s Spring/Summer 2022 couture collection welcomed guest designer and longtime collaborator, Y/Project’s Glenn Martens, who imagined its 36 stunningly surreal silhouettes. Captured in a photo series by Arnaud Laujeunie, the elaborate garments called upon the maison’s savoire faire and stereotypes, reinventing them through Martens’s creative lens. The designer harnessed an audacious elegance through intricate layering, Belle Époque fabrications, and dramatic silhouettes that accentuated the curves of the wearer—like the recurrence of Martens’s signature plunging “V” detail. There was gauzy ruching and velvet-strung corsetry, dizzying marinière stripes draped into statuesque forms, and textural elements referencing historic garb, including chainmail reminiscent knits and silky bustiers with stiff stays. Employing a rich palette of regal hues, a few of our favorite looks included a velvet petticoat skirt in a soft mustard paired with a top that embodied the form of a metallic hydrangea bush, a knit skirt-and-sweater pairing with thorn-like protrusions, and a strapless black silhouette in gathered layers of sheer black tulle laced up and down the sides.
