La Crème de la crème of Paris Couture Fashion Week

With the final day of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week at our doorstep,
FashionUnited takes a moment to reflect on some of the stand out designs
and must-see shows of the week in celebration of courtiers at their finest.

Atelier Versace

The couture division of Italian fashion house Versace was first up to show
its creations for Spring/Summer 2016. Always one to celebrate and honour
the female body and its inherit strengthen, creative director Donatella
Versace designs brought together the worlds of athletic wear and couture
like never before.

A photo posted by Kristina Bazan (@kristinabazan) on
Jan 24, 2016 at
1:25pm PST

Models swayed down to catwalk to a soundtrack specially written for the
show, with lyrics like ‘I move to the beat of my own drum…I was born to
manifest my power,’ highlighting Versace’s vision for ‘athletic couture.’
Models like Gigi Hadid, Lara Stone and Rosie Huntington Whiteley showcased
gowns with thigh-high slits and extreme cutouts, laser cut-mini dresses and
trouser suits, complete with stirrups pairs with boxing cropped jackets
with neon safety straps.

Christian Dior

The French fashion house showcased its first couture collection since the
departure of its former creative director Raf Simons last autumn, and the
in-house designed team which stepped up to the plate following his exit
seemed to have continue his design ethos. Infusing designs with casual and
modern nuances, the collection reworked the iconic Bar Jacket in numerous
ways, which was flipped upside down to create a skirt, cut open in the back
and saw its proportions exaggerated. “Dior woman asserts herself by wearing
clothes in a new way,” read the show notes. “It’s her attitude, her way of
moving, her way of simply being.”

Dive into the
very heart of our atelier on Avenue Montaigne, the nerve center of the
Maison’s exceptional virtuosity in couture and embroidery savoir-faire.
#PFW #Diorcouture #DiorSavoirfaire

A photo
posted by Dior Official (@dior) on Jan 27, 2016 at 6:50am
PST

Embroidery was also key to the collection, which mainly focused on floral
and animal motifs, an art of detail which Christian Dior himself
appreciated in his own haute couture collections. “All too often we forget
that embroidery is still done by hand, just as it was in the 18th century,”
wrote the late couturier in his memoirs. “We can succeed in completely
covering a dress with millions of sequins or beads placed one by one by
fingers that, especially in our mechanical age, seem as though they come
from fairy hands.”

Ralph & Russo

The only British couture label to be invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la
Haute Couture to show at Paris Haute Couture week, Ralph & Russo collection
brought together traditional couture design aspects with modern
architectural influences. The first look shown, a white silk ball gown
featured a hand painted floral motif pairs with embellishments from 3D
crystal and glass petals. Other designs featured 3D silk organza cutwork
flowers, 3D embroidery and 3D floral silk thread work.

A video posted by Claudia Croft (@claudia.croft) on
Jan 25, 2016 at
11:06pm PST

Creative director Tamara Ralph looked to Chinese calligraphy for
inspiration for the hand-painted floral motifs, as well as 1950s hourglass
silhouettes and kimono robes. However, in spite of the extreme breading and
embroidery on the gowns shown for the couture label’s Spring/Summer 2016
collection, it was the closing bridal gown that set social media a buzzing.
It took six petites mains to turn the gowns 3 meter train at the
end of the catwalk, with the gown itself consisting of 736 meres of
off-white tulle which was embroidered with millions of micro beads, pearls
and crystals to create the thousands of organza flowers.

Chanel

One of the most talked about shows of the season, creative director Karl
Lagerfeld has an established repertoire when it comes to hosting elaborate
catwalk presentations. This season saw the designer transform the Grand
Palais into his own green eco-system, complete with blue skies, manicured
green lawns and a modernist wooden doll-house. Although the appearance of
former top model Cara Delevingne and her new pup Leo caused minor
distractions, it was soon forgotten as soon as the wood slats of the house
began to open.

A photo posted by Cara Delevingne
(@queencara_delevingne) on Jan
27, 2016 at 2:25pm PST

The collection, which feature many beige tones, was designed to be a
celebration of nature as well as the iconic Chanel suit. Reimagined in a
series of changing silhouettes and jacquards, the suit was seen in the form
of fitted jackets with oversize sleeves, tight pencil skirts, full ankle
length skirts and wide culottes. The suits were accompanied by a series of
gowns, which featured fringed accents, beaded bodied work and ruffle
sleeves – an understated throw back to the era of the Great Gatsby.

Valentino

Celebrated for its famed haute couture looks, Italian fashion house
Valentino created a 66 piece collection of gowns which featured Oriental
accents, a touch of a Greek goddess as well as a throwback to times of
medieval tapestries. Creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo
Piccioli, were inspired by the figure of Mariano Fortuny artistic works,
which bordered between Eastern Byzantine and Western Classics.

Inspired by
Mariano Fortuny, Creative Directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo
Piccioli look to nature and weaving on this gown an embroidered
peacock.

A photo posted by Valentino
(@maisonvalentino) on Jan
27, 2016 at 12:06pm PST

The resulting collection of gowns featured hand-pleated velvet gowns, silk
kimono-style jackets and patchwork dresses of rich tapestry. However, the
piece that reportedly took the longest to make was a powder rose gown
featuring panels of embellished organza and tulle plisses, which took the
team of seamstresses 2,800 hours to make.