In case you haven’t heard, couture week is back IRL. Known as the most exclusive, high-end fashion week in Paris, only a select handful of labels can join the calendar, and for the most part, everything is entirely handmade with a certain savoir-faire.
For the first time since the pandemic, brands ranging from Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani to Balenciaga and Jean Paul Gaultier (with a special Sacai collab) are hosting real life shows, presentations, and appointments. Here’s what you need to know about the top trends on the runway that you’ll soon see cycle down into your own wardrobe.
Jewelry for Your Clothes
Embellishment to the full effect was everywhere. Think: gems, massive brooches, entire garments made of crystals and more. Schiaparelli took the same gilded noses, lips, and nipples seen in previous collection’s earrings, necklaces and rings and gave them life on jackets made of vintage materials. Alexandre Vauthier took crystal fringe to an extreme with entire sweaters and dresses made only of crystals that shone from across the room. And Armani Privé also showed a flurry of lightweight crystal tops. “I wanted to do something that was a surrender to joy,” Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry told T&C of the hyper-embellished pieces. “To the iconic codes of couture and moments that we all love and that we know, and really build on that. It’s almost to the point of fetishization of anatomy itself. It’s really meant to trigger joy.”
Done Up Denim
Gone are the days of sweats. Jeans are back and couture is showing us how to really wear them. Schiaparelli repurposed vintage denim and made new jewel-encrusted pants and jackets that mirrored sculptural art. Meanwhile, Pieter Mulier’s brand new interpretation of Alaïa included structured hooded jumpsuits rendered in the material. Ronald van der Kemp created distressed denim jackets and boots. The message is loud and clear, the future of denim is eccentric shapes, overloaded texture, and adornment.
Tweed Touches
Both Dior and Chanel exalted this classic couture fabric. Dior took an everyday, slightly equestrian approach while Chanel maintained its girlish and prim aesthetic with skirt suits and softly cut jackets. While it can be considered a wardrobe staple, there’s something very audacious about this iteration of tweed in an age where we’ve been away from work-ready clothes for so long.
Marabou Trim
Feathery trim took the center stage at Chanel, Vauthier and Armani, where a certain pastel purple marabou cropped jacket effortlessly floated down the runway. At Dior, the feathery puffs were also super lightweight and gave dresses an ethereal look. “Paris, my inspiration, is like a black diamond,” Vauthier told T&C of the inspiration behind his extreme feathered headpiece and more demure marabou skirts. “That's why I played with all these techniques with feathers, embroidery and embellishment in this couture collection.”
Earth Alien Prints
Couture is usually lacking prints—top quality fabrics and embellishment dominate. But this season has been surprisingly lush—the more psychedelic prints, the better. Take Van Herpen, who showed abstract otherworldly seas of colors and swirls. Alexis Mabille and van der Kemp too, experimented with bold, bright, look-at-me prints. Van Herpen, for instance, collaborated with Domitille Kiger, the French female world-champion skydiver, to design her a couture skydiving uniform. The designer took inspiration from the shape of the fabric and the parallel of Kiger’s work to create the prints. She told T&C, “I have dedicated my life to fashion, to this intimate creation process of shaping fabric into beautiful and powerful experiences. I find it fascinating how Domitille’s life with each skydive is literally depending on a thin piece of fabric to be folded and shaped rightly. The right shape of the fabric is essential to both of us in different ways.”
