Paris Fashion Week is underway, so we’re highlighting the best details from the Spring/Summer 2020 presentations from brands like Off-White, Maison Margiela, Issey Miyake, and Thom Browne.
Stadium seating opposite a wall of draped fabric set the stage for Off-White’s pared down presentation. As models walked by, a camera rigged to the ground took visual notes of the new looks—inspired by the power a woman has, strong enough to withstand a meteor shower. That meteor shower, although withstood by women of all ages in the show, was seen puncturing garments and accessories from beginning to end. In the show, nearly all tops, jackets, trousers, boots, and bags had holes in them. With the new garments and accessories, design Virgil Abloh wants to ensure all women understand they’re not defined by fashion. Vintage or luxury, new or old—it’s all up to her to decide how it’s perceived. Spring/Summer 2020 brought the Meteor Shower Jitney—the brand’s latest bag design, perforated with holes in a graphic rendering of craters formed by a falling rock. The new line also welcomes a collaboration with Paris-based brothers Roman and Erwan Bouroullec. For SS20, the industrial designers have applied a linear print of theirs to shirts, coats, and handbags.
Courtesy of Off-White.
On a bright, glossy runway, models marched in Maison Margiela’s latest collection. Spring/Summer 2020 is all about alteration—remembrance altered by time, truth altered by the digital age, our memories altered by social media. To reflect on this notion, creative director John Galliano wanted to convey a need for mindfulness by challenging this wakeup-call through clothing. Hand-cut and industrialized holes are seen “hacking” many fabrics—a metaphor for our minds that are often too chaotic for the past and present, filtering impressions and news. Key pieces are rooted in time—tweed materials, l’oeil prints, and projective filtrage translated into trench coats reflects the past, present, and future. For the finale, fashion patrons that tuned in from afar sent the internet ablaze. The last model to take the runway—wobbly at the knees and charging ahead with focus, nearly tackling the runway’s end wall—is now one of the highest reposted memes of fashion month.
In a wide-open space, perfect for activities and free-flow dressing, Issey Miyake presented its new collection with a true show. Inspired by the sole idea of bringing diverse people together to celebrate joy, the brand welcomed dancing, skateboarding, and jumping models to show off the newest pieces. Some entered in tight, simple black undergarments and stood under clear circular rings that held colorful looks and hats. Slowly they were lowered, as models stretches their arms to slip on the dresses. The brand’s APOC philosophy—an acronym standing for “A Piece Of Cloth” that welcomes new shape and design from one piece of fabric—was elaborated on in the Spring/Summer 2020 collection. Relaxed materials in neutral hues were seen with doodled line graphics and splotches of color. Tassels streaming from bags and the bottoms of tops were seen complementing simple closed-toe shoes with ridged soles. And brightly colored windbreakers—seen accentuated by those skateboarding—embodied new shapes with vents, zips, and hoods unlike any we’ve seen before.
Courtesy of Off-White.
And yesterday, Thom Browne wowed special guests with a bewildered presentation in an imaginary white garden. With birds hanging from above, and pillars down below, models made their way through the majestic parting in Browne’s ever-peculiar collection. Exaggerated shapes and hair that stretched to the heavens were seen in sweet pastel shades, but everything was completely reimagined. Seersuckers, corsets, peplum jackets, robes, dresses, skirts, bloomers…everything. Cages that hugged the waist were tucked under some garments for added volume, while others were worn on the outside. Browne’s start—in New York City circa 2001, focused on five suits—is revisited each season with new patterns and styles, and this season is no different. But this time, suits printed on wide-cut dresses are complemented by a shrunken hat on a stick (the new umbrella?) and baby pink veils (the new visor?) for extra unreserved drama.
Courtesy of Maison Margiela.
