This week we land in Paris – both digitally and physically, with several RUSSH team members on the ground attending shows for Paris Fashion Week FW24, like Dior, Loewe, Balenciaga, Valentino, Hermes, Miu Miu and more. Milan Fashion Week was a whirlwind, but it's not over yet.
While fashion week in Paris has only just kicked off, things are already off to a magnificent start with Christian Dior and Saint Laurent both showing their Fall Winter 2024 collections early on. But with plenty more big Houses ready to show this week (and some hotly anticipated new-comers), we're here to bring you all of the Paris Fashion Week FW24 highlights below.
Saint Laurent
Can purity be provocative? It's the question at the centre of Anthony Vaccarello's Winter 24 collection for Saint Laurent, which shrouded models in layers of sheer garments, acting to simultaneously cover and reveal their form underneath. The colour palette was kept grounded; tones redolent of a sunbaked earth. Meanwhile, silhouettes were a staccato of sleek, oversized smoking suits and voluminous Marabou feather coats in shades of lilac and tobacco. Accessories were kept minimal – no bags, but plenty of headwear in the form of wrapped headscarves, and arms adorned in stacks of bulbous glass bangles.
Courreges
Talk about bringing life to the runway. Nicolas Di Felices stayed true to the houses defiance against the conventions of the times, redefining the social acceptability of finding an erotic thrill, particularly in the early hours of the morning...The reoccurring silhouette of the self soothing, comfortable position of having your hands in your pants, with their intentional pocket at the front. Wrapped in the atmosphere of a breathing runway and a soundtrack counting in your breaths, there was something forbidden and quite sexual about this collection, that was further accounted by Courreges sheer fashion leaving the breast and back exposed. Trench coats with turtle necks, where the reoccurring theme of asymmetrical silhouettes and cuts triumphed this collection.
Dries Van Noten
Summarising the show in one word, spontaneous. Waking up to the sound of birds chirping on the runway were the Dries Van Noten models, attired in thick layered coats and sleeves, with fringes unbothered and untouched as they swept over the eyes, gleaming a punk, a 'bother me if you dare' gleam. The most notable note to this season was the spontaneous choice and mix of colours. Ranging in grey, reds and greens, all layered and mixed quite playfully, that made this collection seem very wearable.
Acne Studios
Speed and racing was the blueprint for this collection, expecting a mirage of leather and zippers was a given. Taking the step further as the creative genius Johnny Johansson is, he decided to celebrate the human body through the theme, creating impressions and sculpting the body's physique as the clothes silhouette. Lots of leather, surprising fur (faux) and zipper bags as dresses, and shoes.
Off–White
Making their return to the Paris Fashion Week schedule, Off–White presented their FW24 collection under the banner “Black by Popular Demand”. The House's third show under Ibrahim Kamara was a psychadelic circus of co-ed streetwear, in tones of acid green and purple, adorned beaded fringes, pom-pom dice and butterfly appliqués. Inspired by one of Kamara's trips to Japan, and exploring how Black culture has influenced the melting-pot of Americana style, the runway took place on an enormous Ludo board, mounted with crystal dice. Kamara's vision certainly pops against a backdrop of quiet luxury-laden shows this month, announcing proudly: "We are certainly not holding back in imagining fashion with a capital F, as in FUN".
Chloé
The bohemian Chloé girl is back right where she belongs under newly-anointed creative director Chemena Kamali. Ethereal, flowing dresses and blouses in earthy shades of brown, green and white were contrasted with patent leather thigh-high boots, studded mules, capes, chaps and fringed jackets that gave the collection a distinctively Western edge. And of course, the standout accessories of the event were the gold nameplate "Chloé" belts slung low across models' waists. It's a collection that felt both current and yet, utterly timeless – like its contents could have been pulled straight from the wardrobe of both a Stevie Nicks or a Florence Welch.
Zimmermann
Zimmermann hosted their Fall 2024 collection in Paris this week, taking cues from 1920s fashion illustrations from legacy fashion magazines. The opening look – a freehand sketch on graphic silk burnout with dramatic winged sleeves – set the tone for the collection, which included nouveau wallpaper prints, flapper silhouettes spaghetti-fringe draping and delicate lace chiffon dresses. Unconventional denim silhouettes and pussy bows added textural layers, mixing in with soft knits, fluffy tube dresses and leopard print silk coats.
Rick Owens
Welcoming guests back into his Parisian home, designer Rick Owens recalls his troubling childhood in Southern Sierra Nevada for his FW24 collection. Owens' show notes make mention of a childhood earmarked by "Stories of aching, longing, and disappointment, set to rapturous music reaching for transcendency by Puccini, Wagner, Purcell, Strauss…and every evening he [Owens' father] would softly read Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks to me." Visually the collection was a phantasma of dark characters, sporting black-out contacts, demonic face paint and inflatable boots. His signature cropped bombers made their way into the collection, alongside hooded capes, knit bodysuits, and a series of closing sculptural wired looks that evidenced his expertise.
Mugler
Sunday evening's Mugler show was staged in a school gymnasium, with creative director Casey Cadwallader staging a multi-act runway event. Roving cameras, shadow work and rising curtains all made for a dramatic view, encircling models like Eva Herzigova, Irina Shayk, Precious Lee and Paloma Elsesser. Garments were asymmetric, dimensional, textural (from velvets to taffetas), and printed (based off of paintings by New Yorker Ambera Wellman).
Valentino
Valentino hosted their FW24 event in the gilded salons of an 18th century townhouse on Sunday. Yet another monochromatic collection (who doesn't associate that shade of pink with Valentino FW22 show?), this time an homage to the colour black. With colour off the table, exploration came in the form of texture – from chiffon to lace to knits, leathers and tinsel-like skirts. Pierpaolo Piccioli “approached black as a canvas, a starting point on which to build … silhouettes that could move while looking for lights around, to soak them in and reflect them.”
Hermès
Riding was the inspiration for Hermès F24 collection – from horseback to motorsports. “The idea was to think about riding from traditional to sharp and rebellious,” said creative director Nadège Vanhee. With a rain wall set up in the centre of the runway, the collection felt somewhere between luxury and all-terrain wear, riding jackets and belted boiler suits juxtaposing brown silk skirt suits and crimson leather blazers. Riding boots were a focal point – one that's reared its head on many runways this season – as were clutches, which were stuffed under arms (oversized) and looped through belts (miniature).
