The Best of Haute Couture Week A/W 2022 In An Ongoing Round-up

Schiaparelli

The brand's creative director Daniel Roseberry showcased the sought-after looks shown on the runway from the house’s exhibit “Shocking! The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli” at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

It explores both Elsa Schiaparelli’s Surrealist influences and those whom she inspired and succeeded her, from Christian Lacroix to Azzedine Alaïa.

There were traces of Saint Laurent’s molded breastplates and Van Gogh’s sunflowers, Gaultier’s corsetry and Lacroix’s opulent crucifixes and satin embellishments.

Dior

The ‘tree of life’, symbolizing one’s individuality, bestowed the starting point for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s latest haute couture collection at Dior. The fashion house payed homage to Ukraine by adorning the walls with images of traditional embroideries and floral paintings native to the war-torn country.

Embroidery was dominant in this latest collection, with detailed designs adorning cotton, wool, silk and cashmere dresses in dreamy silhouettes.

Chanel

The word ‘graphic’, favored by her predecessor Karl Lagerfeld, was used by the brand’s creative director Virginie Viard to describe her latest iteration of haute couture garments.

The collection was a take on historic art of haute couture but with a modern twist. It began with a bright shade of green and went on to showcase a myriad of colors with graphic motifs and sculptural silhouettes from hundreds of embroidered leaves, painted lace, as well as delicate dustings of sequins and feathers.

Giorgio Armani Privé

Armani Privé presented outfits that fit the theme of “Petillant”: a sparkling autumn haute couture collection.

Everything was inspired by the 1920s, embracing dangling drop fringing, sequin trims, and transparent netting crystal tops.

The designs shimmered and reflected under the lights in a sequence of magical silhouettes, from minimal and linear to voluminous and ephemeral… they emanated clear feminine energy.

Balenciaga

Creative director Demna collaborated with car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz to create show-stopping face-coverings worn during the runaway show.

Neoprene fabric, T-shirts under sculptured silhouettes, tight corsets were all order of the day.

prene fabric, T-shirts under sculptured silhouettes, tight corsets were all order of the day. The show ended with a succession of increasingly ostentatious gowns and a line-up of A-listers dressed in the couture creations.

The models included Kim Kardashian, Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman, and Christine Quinn, who walked alongside runway veterans Bella Hadid and Naomi Campbell.

Maison Margiela Artisanal

During the pandemic, John Galliano created a digital fashion realm.

Two years later, he translated it into a physical experience called ‘Cinema Inferno’.

Think cowboy hats, leather boots, denim and then add eccentricity and uninhibited glamor to have an all in-theatre event.

Fendi

British designer Kim Jones looked at pieces of the different cities: Kyoto, Paris and Rome and incorporated them into his collection. According to Wallpaper, ‘the fragmentary nature of things is echoed throughout the collection, like snatches of memory or the impression of things past, present and future.’

As such, Jones amalgamated various inspiration points in singular looks, from slices of ‘Kata Yuzen’ printed silk panels and kimono fabrics, reimagined as fluid asymmetric dresses, to abstract interpretations of 18th-century Japanese illustrations adorning shaved-mink tailoring. Despite its various layers of reference, a feeling of lightness prevailed: ‘luminosity, lucidity and ease’, as the house described.

Valentino

Pierpaolo Piccioli put on a dramatic show on the Spanish Steps titled “The Beginning’.

A significant aspect of the collection was the rich color scheme.

There was an abundance of roses, feathers, bows, ruffles all reimagined in a new modern way showcased in Rome, the ancient city where fashion, as we know it, began.

George Hobeika

Elie Saab