Haute Couture Week teemed with newness: Kerby-Jean Raymond came to be the very first Black developer to show on the official schedule and also Demna Gvasalia provided the very first couture collection at one of the original couture houses, Balenciaga, in 53 years. But it was additionally a go back to the status in many other means. The fashion established reunited in Paris for the first time in over a year to view designs in the most up to date charming hand-made offerings at Chanel, Armani Privé, Dior, and a lot more IRL. There were seated suppers, street design, as well as front rows.
One tag that is dedicated to maintaining it fresh in one very specific method is Jean Paul Gaultier. Following the announcement of his retirement after 50 years in vogue in a rather puzzling Instagram post in January 2020, Gaultier revealed that his label would live on via seasonal cooperations. First up is a revelatory collaboration with Sacai’s Chitose Abe, that applied her signature splicing technique to much of Gaultier’s signatures.
All of the hallmarks of a good partnership were already there: a shared love of tartan as well as stripes, uniform clothing, suiting, as well as a modern method to genderless design. The meeting of these two minds came about naturally “I was really stunned,” Abe tells BAZAAR.com specifically of the collaboration, “I was welcomed for tea by Jean Paul, as well as the meeting was so individual and intimate. The conversation really felt real and organic.”
” I understood from the start that I wished to refer to Jean Paul’s archives,” Abe clarifies of her approach to designing the collection, “I already understood in my mind which looks even before I actually saw the archival pieces.” Presumably, Gautlier’s renowned 1984 cone bra, promoted by Madonna, was high on the list. It arised on a corset, coupled with a deconstructed navy pinstripe skirt match, on a strapless tan cinch-waist trench gown, and on another bodice layered over a puff coat, all in navy pinstripes.
A well-known image of a bride and groom in working with fisherman coat looks from a 1998 Gautlier couture collection might have likewise gotten on that checklist. A series of cream color weaved appearances were standouts, as were responds to those nautical uniforms both Gaultier and also Abe have actually each referenced so adeptly independently in the past. As well as you guessed it, tartans and also light blue French Riviera red stripes additionally made attractive appearances, commonly combined with each other. “One point that Jean Paul said was, ‘making needs to be free,'” Abe remarks, “So he actually offered me total freedom to make this collection.” As well as it showed.
Abe’s initial venture into couture was a well-executed one, a real meeting of two fashion minds, yet not an entirely brand-new experience for the Japanese designer. “For a ready-to-wear brand, Sacai is additionally made with some complexity, and also we likewise just create what has actually been gotten, so in some ways dealing with couture did not feel all that unknown,” she claims, “Nevertheless, there were strategies and also describing such as hand-embroidery as well as use of particular embellishments which one can not attain for ready-to-wear.”
That’s where real partnership can be found in. And Also Abe and Gaultier’s had not been the just one on display screen. Tattoo prints by Dr. Woo and also a footwear collab with Pierre Hardy, whose upper leg high faux fur-trimmed boots harken back to Gaultier’s Fall 1994 Mongolian collection, also emerged. The 32-look collection culminated in a walk down the path (not raised this time around as Gaultier was wont to do) by both Abe as well as Gaultier.
