PARIS FASHION WEEK:TWO INDEPENDENT female designers, Antwerp-based Anne Demeulemeester and Paris-based Sharon Wauchob sent out two powerful monochrome shows yesterday in Paris, one in an old convent, the other in Les Beaux-Arts art school. Both stick to their own vision irrespective of trends and their collections share a slouchy, rock 'n' roll modernity and a certain hard-edged romanticism.
Wauchob’s show, staged against a huge tilting mirror allowing a view of the clothes both from the front and the back, was more poetic in spirit than usual.
Her controlled use of lightweight textured fabrics, soft and see-through or embroidered with pearls contrasting with leathers that were twisted or pleated made for some lovely hard/soft combinations.
A standout example was a short ruffled leather jacket worn over a black ballerina skirt layered with tulle and lace.
Equally dreamy and sexy were the delicate drop-waisted dresses with a mere film of fabric as décor while others had insets of fine black cobwebbed lace. "I wanted it to be elegant and to revisit old techniques", she told The Irish Times.
“Lace doesn’t have to be old fashioned. I wanted to do something modern with lace which is not easy”.
Next Tuesday a special celebration to mark her collection for Edun will be held by LMVH in Paris. Though Wauchob spiced her palette with occasional shades of coffee and bronze, Demeulemeester’s collection was completely monochrome, the only patterning black and white splash printed fabrics.
The designer’s approach was to layer waistcoats over flak-style jackets, tie them together with straps and metal fastenings and further armour them with long cutaway skirts slashed to the thigh, all in leather.
The look was tough, but feminine and taken singly, there were many pieces loyal followers will covet.
“White” said an Irish buyer in despair as we watched a graceful, soft all white leather suit, “with Irish weather? For summer? Won’t sell”.
White was noticeably absent from Manish Arora’s lavish rollercoaster collection, a Bollywood meets Baroque affair with elaborate and extravagant Indian embroideries and exaggerated shapes. This technicolour fantasy had models decked in gilded rib cages, gold serpents snaking up their legs, tonnes of bracelets on their arms and shiny toy cars strapped to their heads.