While Paris Fashion Week was taking place there were a few features in the news linked with plastic and sustainability: Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza launched indeed the world's first plastic-free aisle in its Amsterdam branch.
Danish toymaker Lego announced instead plant-based plastic pieces such as bushes and trees. Moulded from polyethylene, a flexible plastic made with ethanol extracted from sugar cane, the pieces will start being available later this year.
But while consumers may be tired of buying products covered in layers and layers of plastic packaging or colourful and stylish yet polluting toys made with plastic, impenitent fashionistas may still be attracted to synthetic materials and PVC-based designs.
While companies are looking for more sustainable materials than plastic-based ones, fashion houses are still fascinated by the consistency of plastic materials (an old trend after all), as seen during Paris Fashion Week.
Last Wednesday John Galliano took tulle and nylon or elements such as fringes, ripped and recombined them with transparent PVC in Maison Margiela's new collection (that actually echoed in some of its colours, ensembles and materials the house's Artisanal designs; well, actually some of the designs on the runway were the same, only they were styled differently…).
In some of the looks you could actually see behind the plastic and discover rodeo-like garments, almost frozen or fossilised in synthetic materials, an expedient that allowed the designer to hint at conceptual themes and Margiela-isms such as the memory of garments.
Parkas and anoraks prevailed, especially in their plasticized versions, pointing at safety gear and protection; these themes were also hinted at by the gigantic duvet-like puffer mono-sleeve attached to coats.
In other cases garments were reduced to their basic structures and appeared just as skeletons, a trick Galliano calls "decortiqué" technique.
Nature arrived on the runway via hybridised designs such as an Aran sweater fused with a tweed jacket, a slipdress stitched onto a sporty stadium jacket (the main idea for this collection was dressing in reverse, which explains the upside-down wardrobe choices…), a fisherman-style jumper updated with rubber inserts and an electric blue dress in which fuchsia threads were employed through a sparse-to-dense technique to create a furry or feathery effect on the fabric.
Everything was layered, combined and recombined with emphasis on volumes also for what regarded the accessories that included vinyl hoods with padded areas that evoked rugby helmets or swimming cap-looking headwear, and techno-shoes (the Security Margiela Sneaker, or S.M.S.), hybrid footwear marrying a pair of sneakers with some sleek ski bindings.
Holographic shades were also employed for the padded "Glam Slam" bag that could be used as a comfy pillow or as a self-protective device (ideal in last week's subzero weather, freezing temperatures and snow…).
Maybe this is the look of the pioneers who will join the next Space Race or of the tribe that will inhabit Europe after the plastic apocalypse or in a dystopian Nuclear Age.
On Paco Rabanne's runway instead Julien Dossena re-imagined the designer's iconic chainmail in slipdresses, tanks, tunics and shower sandals.
Geometries prevailed with plastic discs, lozenges, rectangles, squares and strips employed to construct skirts and vests, mainly layered with ordinary clothes including Breton stripes and tailored camel coats.
A mirror dress donned by Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's 1967 film "Two for the Road" became a shorts and shirt ensemble or a longer asymmetrical dress matched with a simple shearling-lined hoodie.
Plastic and metal elements clattered and shimmered and light bounced on shiny 3-D flowers, but the best effects were achieved when these elements were juxtaposed to Haute Couture materials or designs.
In one case a classic twin set was indeed reinvented with rhomboid wool inserts chained by metal links; in another a vest appeared to be made with shearling circles.
Rabanne's iconic technique was also employed for bags or small details on the garments and accessories including shower slides decorated with plasticky embellishments.
While plastic seemed ingeniously constructed here, the use of plastic on Balmain's runway was infinitely less intriguing.
Olivier Rousteing's glamazons in trasparent or fluorescent PVC suits, plastic (or was that a shower curtain?) pleated skirts and jackets that echoed classic Chanel designs, wrapped in silver foil and holographic textures and walking on yellow and orange PVC thigh-high boots and high heeled shoes, looked like space mermaids.
Though visually enticing and the material Instagram dreams are made of, the collection proved tricky, though it made you seriously feel relieved at the thought of having found the wardobe for the remake of Queen of Outer Space.
It is surprising that, while very few designers were maybe looking at projects actively involving nature (see yesterday's post about Lacoste) during the latest fashion weeks, most creative minds were focused on synthetic and plastic-based materials, while nobody was exploring the possibilities of alternatives to traditional plastics.
If plastic can be made from sustainable or bio-based raw materials, why not trying to come up with a collection that features designs made with such materials (consider also the fact that investing in PVC/plastic pieces can be risky as they easily break or change colour with time)?
Maybe there isn't time for designers to experiment with such alternative products, but let's hope in future they will do so. For the time being, here's a suggestion for plastic lovers and impenitent fashionistas – try to create something out of found plastic by yourself and then recycle it once you're tired or when the garment has worn out. It's easy, cheaper and, well, come to think of it, with a little bit of creativity, you may even achieve more original solutions than those seen on the Parisian runways.
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