I’m a glutton for Punitions. That’s what cult Parisian bakery Poilane calls their crunchy butter cookies, my chosen form of sustenance this Paris Fashion Week.
Photo by Tiyana Grulovic
I picked them up after Anthony Vaccarello’s spring 2014 show, my first of many, set in an environment where sugary gluten was forbidden. Discipline is Vacarrello’s game for next season, with looks that riffed on military adornment (those buttons) alongside thigh-skimming skirts. It was a steamy, cohesive show that recalled early Balmania in hot rod sex appeal. (To pull it off, it helps to look like Anja Rubik. Quelle punitions!)
Vaccarello’s lascivious minis are further indicative of a cruel summer ahead: Hemlines and tops were cropped all over London and New York runways, too. Fringe, another trend emerging on the fashion circuit, cemented itself here early on. At Guy Laroche, it appeared in futuristic raffia:
At Dries Van Noten, it formed tasseled adornments on intricately woven, world-weary tunics:
Van Noten employed rumpled, delicate fabrics to offset those heavy details. And can we talk about that incredible micro pleating? It created a depth and dimension that was fitting for an upscale hippie (that kind of dishabille doesn’t come cheap). At times, the pleating took on spiky, sea urchin-like forms.
Those same shapes—a reaction to so much skin?—also appeared at Rochas. Trend alert!
It was just announced that it will be Marco Zanini’s last season at the label; he’s moving to Schiaparelli and Alessandro dell’Acqua will take over as creative director. Zanini was clearly on a mission to prove that he will be missed. He’s still on a mid-century kick from fall, but spring takes a ghostly and glossy turn. Kind of appropriate for a potential disappearing act? Anyway, the images here don’t do those frail, filmy fabrics any justice. You have to see (or buy) them for yourself:
