Fashion Frenzy: Finding Feminine Energy in The Latest Couture Fashions
Paris, it’s where the wild things were this season.
Though haute couture tradition is often thought of as buttoned-up, many a collection for fall let out a roar, much like the animal sets Xavier Veilhan created at Chanel or the faux feline’s heads at Schiaparelli would have had they leaped off the runway and into the jungle.
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At the latter show, WWD’s Miles Socha reported designer Daniel Roseberry sought to offer something more relatable. “This is not like a couturier dressing women up like dolls,” he said. “It’s more speaking about that feminine energy.”
It’s with that feminine energy in mind that WWD brought some of the best looks from the season out to roam freely in their natural habitats, capturing them in action on the streets of the city of lights.
Styled by style director Alex Badia, model Sokhna Niane strikes a power pose atop one of Paris’ landmark bridges in Viktor & Rolf’s diagonally slanted sweetheart dress with mille-feuille skirt before taking it to the Vendôme in Giambattista Valli’s crystal mesh jumpsuit.
Niane also struts her stuff, looking every bit the modern couture client in Alexandre Vauthier’s bejeweled hooded jacket and leggings. The look for his show, as told to WWD’s Rhonda Richford, was “future new wave.”
Vauthier may have been thinking about ‘80s power dressing, but Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri had the ‘20s on her mind, debuting a collection based on Josephine Baker’s influential style. Here, Niane takes a moment of pause on a sweeping staircase in her mushroom-colored pleated cape and dress in distressed satin.
WWD’s Joelle Diderich quoted Chiuri as saying her fashion shows “propose a territory where you can play with clothes and you work on your image and your personality and you change the rules.”
Play on.
Launch Gallery: WWD's Spring 2023 Couture Shoot in Paris
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