5 highlights from Spring 2018 Couture Fashion Week in Paris, Latest Fashion News - The New Paper
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5 highlights from Spring 2018 Couture Fashion Week in Paris

Highlights of Spring 2018 Couture Fashion Week in Paris, which ended last week

LIFE IS BLACK AND WHITE

While catwalks are more and more gender-fluid with co-ed shows and androgynous and trans models, they could not have been more binary when it came to colour.

Black and white dominated, from Jean Paul Gaultier's two-tone tribute to Pierre Cardin to Dior's surrealist checkerboards and Clare Waight Keller's praised couture debut at Givenchy.

Femme fatales cut a black and silver swathe through the Azzaro, Alexandre Vauthier and Galia Lahav collections, with shoulders exaggerated 1980s-style to emphasise killer glamour.

Chanel and Valentino swam against the tide with an assortment of sugary pinks and greens.

Viktor & Rolf also went for a bolder palette, giving the quirky creations an extra sheen by making the complete collection in satin duchesse.

ALL HAIL GALLIANO

Genius is a word that gets thrown around in fashion like confetti at a wedding, but many who witnessed John Galliano's two shows for Margiela over the past 12 days believe that in his case, the hat fits.

His haute couture collection, using transformative fabrics that look different to the naked eye than from through the lens of a smartphone, was not just inspired use of tech but deft commentary on seeing the world through the lens of Instagram.

KARL'S BEARD

Even geniuses make mistakes. Just ask Karl Lagerfeld, who is no doubt stroking his chin over whether he will persist with his new wispy white beard.

Reaction to his first major change in image in two decades was generally negative - and almost drowned out his very girly Chanel show.

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU QUOTE

Dior under Maria Grazia Chiuri loves nothing better than a good slogan. She began her reign at the label with her "We should all be feminists" T-shirt and by plastering "Christian Dior J'adore" on nearly everything, from bras to sandal straps.

Last week, she wrote lines from writer Andre Breton's Surrealist Manifesto across her models' collar bones as part of a homage to Italian artist and protofeminist Leonor Fini.

That was unfortunate, as critics pointed out, because Breton was a notorious misogynist who Fini abhorred for writing that "the problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world".

DON'T SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

Never write a note using the N-word and send it to someone who puts their entire life on Instagram.

Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko learnt that the hard way when she sent flowers to her friend, Moscow socialite Miroslava Duma, when she arrived in Paris for the shows.

Both women insisted it was meant as a term of endearment, but the fashion world was not in a forgiving mood. - AFP

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