The Paris collections of  A/W 14 veered between a beautiful aesthetic restraint and a highly ornamental treatment of textile. When designers pared it back, they hit upon a class, luxury and elegance that not only reminded the world of the French standard for ultimate quality and design, but provided a respite to the more brazen bling of Milan. Next to Karl Lagerfeld’s post-modern riff on supermarket-chic, with a brilliant supermodel-populated suburbia at Chanel, Jeremy Scott’s brash, comic take on McDonald’s uniforms for Moschino suddenly seemed a bit under-developed.

Chanel

 

Kenzo

 

Givenchy

There was a decidedly ‘street’ element to the looks on show at Chanel, with the appearance of crop-tops, leggings (complete with ladders and holes in them), puffa-tweeds and trainers. Lagerfeld never allows the show concept to overwhelm the clothes, and the most the supermarket theme really infiltrated the collection was in brilliant bouclé-bound shopping baskets and, perhaps, the food packaging candy-colours of some of the prints. This intelligent consideration of colour was key to the Paris collections, such as at Kenzo, where prints were measured and brilliantly composed, in jewel tones and off-kilter neon shades (ochre and burnt orange.) Like Lagerfeld, the designers balanced proportions and shapes to balance this treatment of print, with cinched waists and unusually cropped hemlines acting as counter-weights for bold sleeves and volume in skirts and trousers. Givenchy also tread this balance, with Riccardo Tisci breaking down animal prints and loud colour across refined geometric detailing, from obi belts and pockets to inserts and cuffs. In this careful and measured treatment of materials like leopard print and fur, Tisci epitomised a very French approach to luxury; effortless, elegant, intelligent.

 

Stella McCartney

 

Balenciaga

Stella McCartney also used this approach, with knitwear and comfortable, easy silhouettes providing a vehicle for experimental, even ornamental, colour and print detailing. By blocking the colour out, McCartney was able to maintain her trademark balance of masculine tailoring and feminine aesthetic, layering prints and textiles without losing the utility so central to her label. Under Alexander Wang’s guidance, Balenciaga used colour in much the same way as at Givenchy, with bold geometric inserts and thick bands of colour on cuffs, collars and waistbands. Wang’s Balenciaga is a consistently brilliant, aligning the house’s tradition of chic tailoring and experiment, with a modern, almost underground energy. As the collection unfolded there was an almost biomorphic quality to the silhouettes on display, rendered in heavy leather, knit and silk. At Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, these biomorphic silhouettes also prevailed, with Miyake’s pleats ballooning in curvilinear shapes with beautiful drapery and scalloped detailing. Colour was bold but relatively restrained, either in colour-blocking or in geometric, mosaic prints. At Yamamoto, colour was highly decorative, exploding in intricately-detailed drawn prints or in fine detailing and trim.

 

Issey Miyake

 

Yohji Yamamoto

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Words by Will Ballantyne-Reid