In the variety of proposals, this season’s Parisian fashion is all an idyll, that is, a search for balance and harmony within bucolic pictures. Green thinking and a return to nature, not always exactly stringent in terms of conceptual development and its execution. Dior (photo above), for example, he parades into a beautiful garden – Monsieur Dior had one in Granville where he loved to retire – but he builds a marquee in which there is a fake garden, which is crasi between the Granville of the maison and Charleston Farm in Sussex, the cottage of Duncan Grant and the Bloomsbury Group. The short circuit is evident, but the storytelling cancels contradictions and quantum leaps in the name of the dialogue between the French roots and the British culture of the current creative director, Kim Jones. The fact is that, however fascinating, the story of the contiguity between countryside and countryside is, in fact, just a story: a setting within which Jones explores the changing weather as a way to mix gardening, outdoor, trekking and tailoring, with a profluvium of prints and jacquard chosen from the archives of Grant, an expressive painter. After the good rehearsal last January, this collection, suspended between deluxe Patagonia, pieces with a utility flavor and impeccable and immaterial tailoring, appears as an exercise in style without flaws, but not particularly captivating. On the contrary, it would seem a bit dry, despite the lush greenery all around.
General Workshops parades in the gardens of the Musée des Archives Nationales, en plein air, and is a joy for spirit and eyes. The magnificent setting enhances the effectiveness and simplicity of dresses with a very French and immediate chic, which have determined the success of this brand, born just ten years ago but in constant growth. There is a lot of freshness in the collection of Paul Smith: sorbet colors, abundant volumes and a light-hearted air in mixing everything, looking at the style of the artists of the eighties, the first to actively and consciously flirt with the fashion of designers, and to create an image by associating themselves with this or that brand . Classic with twist is the strong point of the English designer: a recipe that never becomes a standard formula. Junya Watanabe pays homage to Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, but also Coca Cola and Netflix, in what appears to be a celebration of consumer and pop America. The forms are archetypal, the artistic interventions evident, and the effect is a bit of a museum gift shop.There is nothing bucolic, or even reassuring, about the wedding party kitsch of Acne Studios: a sparkle of satins and glitter, a rustle of satins, a whirl of shapes, now narrow, now wide, never right and in any case a bit drunk, which turned out to be as much fun. Rei Kawakubo from Like Boysfinally, imagine a court of jesters dressed in puffy tailcoats, pointy-edged tunic and trousers and horror movie masks. The soundtrack is horror as well, but the message is anything but frightening: a celebration of free speech – the same that the fools had – much needed in times of creeping obscurantism. The punk undertone, thus, seems doubly timely.