The fashion flock has landed in Paris. Feminism was the key message on the first big day of shows thanks to visual artist Elena Bellantoni’s powerful immersive video installation titled ‘ Not Her’ at Dior. The day featured many excellent woman-friendly tailoring options, from Dior’s relaxed fit Bar suits to Peter Do’s skirts over pants and Saint Laurent’s safari jacket-inspired evening options.
The Front Row:
Paris Fashion Week kicked into high gear on Tuesday. And just like we saw last week in Milan, the FROW of the week’s first big show, Dior, was packed with Hollywood stars. Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rachel Zegler, Yara Shahidi, Maya Hawke, Jenna Ortega, and Elizabeth Debicki all made their way to a massive tent Dior set up in the Jardin des Tuilleries.
In addition to being Dior Day, Tuesday was also Blackpink Day: Jisoo attended Dior, while her bandmate Rosé was present for Saint Laurent’s evening show at the Eiffel Tower that featured elegant riffs on Yves Saint Laurent’s famous safari jacket. Kate Moss, Hailey Bieber, Zoe Kravitz, Naomi Ackie, Demi Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Carla Bruni Sarkozy, Jerry Hall, and Georgia May Jagger were also drawn to the Paris landmark’s sparkling lights.
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The Art Installation:
From her very first Dior collection for Spring/Summer 2017 featuring the title of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘We Should All be Feminists’ TEDx talk stamped on a T-shirt, creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri has transformed her runway into a vibrant platform for feminist expression. Each season she works with a female artist on show scenography, and her long list of RTW collaborators reads like a new counter-canon: Joana Vasconcelos, Eva Jospin, Mariella Bettineschi, Anna Paparatti, Silvia Giambrone, Lucia Marcucci, Claire Fontaine, and Tomaso Binga.
For SS24 Ngozi Adichie sat amongst the starry crowd taking in Bellantoni’s immersive video installation consisting of 7-meter-high LED screens that displayed 24 mock advertisement diptychs undercutting sexist visual tropes with new messages. For example, a self-portrait of Bellantoni holding a perfume bottle captioned ‘GIVE HIM YOUR DEEPEST ESSENCE ’ was paired with a panel reading ‘I AM NOT AM EMPTY SPACE BETWEEN YOUR PAGES.’ Models walked a fuchsia and highlighter yellow striped runway that echoed the installation’s key colours, wearing a witchy, almost entirely black assortment of Bar jackets that had been eased at the waist and diaphanous knits meant to caress rather than constrict the body. A very light, metallic sweater offered a softer interpretation of chainmail.
The Debut:
Fresh off his debut as creative director of Helmut Lang during New York Fashion Week, Peter Do staged his first Paris runway show for his own label. A 2020 LVMH Prize co-winner, Do is one of the brightest rising stars in American fashion and he brought great energy to the Palais de Tokyo on Tuesday morning. Do cut his teeth at Phoebe Philo’s Celine and that tailoring training shows in his three-piece coords featuring trenches or blazers worn with skirts over pants. The show incorporated a selection of Banana Republic x Peter Do pieces from his collaboration with the American high street retailer dropping in October. A clever trench with detachable pleats paired with tuxedo drill trousers moved his signature silhouette forward.
