Lights, camera, drama! The style industry recently came alive with fashion weeks taking place in major cities around the world. Paris, London, Milan and New York especially, turned into a focal point for all things glamorous.
With physical shows once again a mainstay of these events, it was a spectacle to behold indeed.
It seems like brands were trying to outdo each other with their runway setups too. A real horse made an appearance at one show, while a rocket ship towered in the backdrop of another as models walked out wearing space helmets.
Celebrities are jetting in and returning to the front rows, as well. And with them, along comes the out-there (or even outright whacky) outfits.
Read more: Paris museums pay tribute to legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent
Rapper and record producer Kanye West made headlines as he appeared at several shows. In the French capital city, he even wore a ski mask to attend a runway presentation. He later sported ice blue contact lenses, which underscored his penchant for unusual fashion week looks.
All the drama aside, the clothes for the season ahead proved that fashion is back to its old ways.
Most designers are adamant that life has to go on. It is their thinking that people should dress up again and start having fun – with the fashion week runways painting that very picture.
A wild ride indeed
It is often customary for the most recognisable model to open a runway show. For Chanel, the honour went to a horse.
Yes, no doubt it was being ridden by Charlotte Casiraghi, the granddaughter of the late Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco. To have such a huge animal weaving around guests however, was still a novelty and a sight hard to forget.
Casiraghi has been an official Chanel ambassador since 2020, and is an accomplished equestrian.
The Spring/Summer 2022 Haute Couture collection presented in Paris aimed at contrasting refinement and animality. It had all the classic elements of the fashion house’s aesthetic, but with contemporary touches.
In a promotional video released, Casiraghi said that using a horse fit in with the creative direction.
“I immediately think of the story of Chanel and (founder) Gabrielle Chanel,” she commented. “Horses and riding were extremely important, if not instrumental, in her vision of the brand.”
In remembrance of Pierre Cardin who died in 2020, his eponymous fashion house staged an out-of-this-world runway show.
It included pieces from the couturier’s final collection, as well as new designs produced by the brand’s current team.
Held at the National Air and Space Museum of France, a runway was built at the foot of the Ariane 5 rocket. The extravaganza lasted 50 minutes and was accompanied with flashing lights and sounds.
Pierre himself was often referred to as the “father of futuristic fashion”, and this is further underscored with his “cosmocorps” designs invented at the end of the 1960s.
The runway unveil comprised two parts. It began with outfits Pierre designed before his death and a collection created by Rodrigo Basilicati Cardin, nephew and heir to his empire.
The show must go on
Another tribute show was from Louis Vuitton, held in remembrance of Virgil Abloh who died in November.
This Autumn/Winter 2022 collection is the former menswear artistic director’s last work, completed by the design team and as reported, “realised in his vision”.
The runway in Paris was filled with both dancers and models. A live orchestra also played, making it truly a swansong performance – rather than just a fashion show.
As for the clothes, they ran the gamut from being wildly imaginative to sleek and tailored.
You could even call them surreal. The show notes stated: “One of Virgil Abloh’s most used terms, imagination is what fuels this dream.”
The whole concept of the runway was planned by Abloh before his death, and thus included references of mortality as sort of his experience battling cancer. Graphics of spiritual forces were included, as well as various imageries of time, magic and creation.
Posting up snippets of the show on Instagram, Louis Vuitton described it with phrases like “emotive showmanship”, “childlike imagination”, “colliding dress codes” and “romantic notions”.
As the womenswear fashion weeks kicked off last week in New York, there is already a sign of theatrics being a theme.
Designer Maisie Schloss used seven-foot-tall holographic models. When guests entered into a gallery, they found a line of virtual models – each performing a set of repetitive motions, sort of like GIFs.
It had a physical setting, but still somehow linked to a virtual world. This hybrid approach was seen as a nod to the importance of digital fashion.
Read more: The fashion world pays tribute to multitalented designer Virgil Abloh
“We’re no longer tethered to things that we can show during a traditional fashion show,” Schloss told CNN in an interview.
“I really wanted it to serve as a study of the often blurry line between reality and fantasy – what makes something that is real feel unreal?”
The women’s shows are now ongoing at Milan Fashion Week, with Paris’ due to begin in March.
What is for sure, there will be plenty of drama to look out for in the way runway ideas have evolved. The fashion calendar is back in full swing, and with it comes the glitz, glamour and creative surrealism that fashion can offer.
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