Having taken a short break from the fashion week reviews in the last two days, I’m reopening with today’s post the thread to finish exploring a few ideas, inspirations and trends seen on different runways. So let’s start from the very end of Paris Fashion Week, with Miu Miu’s collection.
In a previous post I analysed the cinematic undercurrents flowing through some of the Autumn/Winter 2010-11 designs, mentioning also Prada.
But while in Milan Miuccia Prada went for a stylishly mature approach that put emphasis on the bust area, in Paris things verged towards the cartoonishly elegant, the naïve and innocent with a twist of dark chic.
The designs were characterised by clean and clear lines but the floral appliqués, the curved scallops or rounded patch pockets and cut-out motifs that left the skin exposed, called to mind Courrèges’ 1967 and ’68 Spring/Summer collections that included dresses with little padded flowers, rounded off cut-outs and revers and petal details.
Yet the palette – comprising vivid orange, black and wisteria – the oversized turnkey belts and high collars and ribbons, the extremely short and sculpted mini-skirts worn with tight ski pants that elongated the legs and metallic details on the square-toed pumps, hinted at the sort of playful futurism of animated series The Jetsons.
Like in Courrèges' designs, the waistline wasn't really highlighted, but the body was considered as a dynamic whole in celebration of youthfulness.
There may have been no sign of Courrègesian white at Miu Miu’s, but there was plenty of it at Moncler Gamme Rouge’s presentation.
Creative director Giambattista Valli must have had in mind the 60s, Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, Edward White’s walk, Neil Armstrong’s excursion on the Moon and, well, quite a few scenes from the battle on ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.
Valli applied a three-dimensional quilted square motif on jackets, capes, dresses and knits, employed technical materials to create ruffle-like details on tops and coats and introduced quite a few designs, like his fish scale-like sequinned tops, that will be more popular in town than on the slopes.
Though there were a few black garments and an orange jacket that evoked the scenes in which astronaut Dave Bowman floats inside the computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the entire collection was mainly based on Courrèges’s optical white, a symbol of purity and cleanliness for the French designer, and the most poetical nuance on the slopes since it can beautifully reflect the azure blue of the sky.
Yet, while reinventing what in the 80s had become a sad must for every paninaro out there saved Moncler from retail catastrophe and though Valli proved he can tone down his haute couture impulses reducing them to just a cascade or two of sequins, hitting the slopes or walking around town dressed like Princess Leia escaping from Bespin may be tricky (unless you are a Star Wars fan).
Courrèges was definitely among the main designers who explored the possibilities of the Space Age look in the 60s, and one of the main examples of designs that best represents this trend was the uniform.
Jumpsuits, stockings and suits derived from skiwear and made in synthetic materials often appeared in space and spy films and TV series from the 60s.
For example, actress Diana Rigg, starring as Emma Peel in the ABC TV series The Avengers, wore figure hugging suits crisscrossed with zippers and matched with boots, a look designed by John Bates, that somehow represented the perfect synthesis between space age suits and spy wear.
Rigg’s practical wardrobe facilitated her character’s moves and antics in the fight scenes, while also helping emphasising the reversal of the roles in the series as actor Patrick Macnee, starring as John Steed, had a rather passive role, and wore elegant suits accessorised with a bowler hat and an umbrella.
A pioneer in gender bending and mixing men and women’s wear, Jean Paul Gaultier also seems to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of films and cinema compared to many other people working in the fashion industry and quickly made a connection between the look, role reversal, irony and British stereotypes in The Avengers and Hermès’ new collection.
Indeed a leather catsuit, accessorised with a bowler hat and umbrella opened the show, evoking the perfect Avengers look.
There was a natural emphasis on outerwear (see the double face cashmere coats, mink jackets or three quarter, duffel and trench coats) and accessories – such as miniaturised Kelly bags attached to umbrellas or Birkin bags covered in tiny metal dots or presented in their shearling version – but the best designs included timeless mannish three-piece suits with leather ties and watches on silver chains, wool tops with saddle-shaped leather shoulder pads, V-necked leather dresses and perfectly cut jackets in which herringbone tweed was mixed with leather inserts.
There was maybe one faux pas or two, namely an ankle length skirt, occasional leopard prints and a short but bulky trapezoidal mohair skirt matched with a leather waistcoat.
Leather came back for the evening looks with streamlined extra long coats and long jersey dresses with a spine-like crocodile stripe running from the neck accessorised with top hats for a (Guy Ritchie's) Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Jekyll look.
In a way this could have been a disaster and may have easily ended up in turning into an updated John Bates for Jean Varon’s “Avengers Collection”.
Yet, behind the ironic veiled bowler hats (could that be a trend or maybe a way to renew old vintage hats?) and leather-clad and dandified heroines, Gaultier managed to preserve his own impeccable tailoring skills and the quality that Hermès always represented and it's for this reason that he should definitely be praised.


Thank you so much for writing this! I learned a lot and appreciate the perspective.
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