Straight from the runways at July’s Paris Haute Couture Week showing the Fall/Winter 2022-23 collections, The Peninsula magazine team, led by Artistic Director and Designer Bowie Wong, headed to the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, close to The Peninsula Paris, to photograph some of the scene-stealing looks from a selection of the most visionary designers.
Models:
Kate Ev @Studio Paris
Johana Slore @Studio Paris
Hair Stylists:
Massimo Morello @Kevin Murphy
Domenico Toscano @Kevin Murphy
Makeup Artist: Charlotte Willer
Wigs: Tony Vacher @Sterling Hairdressing
Fashion Assistant: Esther Fitoussi
Location Scout: Valentin Covo
Location: Bois de Boulogne, Paris
Special thanks to The Peninsula Paris
Spanish designer Juana Martin made her haute couture debut in the French capital for Fall/Winter 2022-23, showing a collection that predominantly drew on flamenco references and becoming just the third Spaniard to take part in France’s official haute couture schedule, following the legendary Cristobal Balenciaga and Paco Rabanne.
The collection, entitled ’Andalucía’, is a tribute to the namesake region of Spain and its culture. “Andalucia is a way of claiming my culture and my way of seeing fashion. It is a cultural, new, cosmopolitan and urban Andalucia, different from everything that is established,” said the designer after taking her bow at the end of her history-making show.
Hong Kong native Bowie Wong launched his namesake couture brand at Australian Fashion Week in 2010, causing such a frenzy among the Australian and international media that the entire 250-seat venue was full, leaving most of the 400 fashion industry guests to stand and watch. This triumph resulted in his 2012 collection being named closing designer and the “show of the week”.
Wong’s natural need for precision, passion, rigour and interpretation through techniques such as the manipulation of fabric, is expressed through a style that is inspired by the combination of Asian and Western cultures, as well as his theatrical influences. 2014 marked his international debut during Haute Couture Week, when he showed his collection at The Peninsula Paris.
For Fall/Winter 2022-23, established couturier Stéphane Rolland delivered an elegant collection, that paid homage to the celebrated French singer Barbara. Of note was a long sheath dress in black jersey with a “maxi-chain” and black crystal embroidery and a long dress with cloud sleeves in white georgette crepe and gazar, embroidered with oversize chains in white jersey.
Inspired by Africa, Rolland created several looks with ‘Masai’ embroidery, including a stunning long tunic dress in white wool gazar with a “Masai” embroidery in silver silicon, a long poncho in ebony chiffon embroidered with scarifications in brown jersey and crystal and a stunning bustle dress in black gauze with a tattoo embroidery.
Widely heralded as one of fashion’s most forward-thinking designers, Iris van Herpen’s work is deeply embedded in nature. Its beauty, mystery and chaos are aspects that the designer draws inspiration from.
Since its founding year, the Maison of Iris van Herpen has been pushing an interdisciplinary dialogue between nature, architecture, fashion and science. Merging different disciplines in unexpected, thus pioneering ways has been paramount to the Maison’s distinctive creative process which can be described as an inextricable bond between traditional craftsmanship and future-facing technology.
“In the future of Iris van Herpen, I hope we help to shape fashion more intelligently, to empower women and to deepen the reasoning of creating fashion, to shape fashion into the fields of science, art, architecture, engineering, biology and to focus on sustainable collaboration with nature at the core of each design. To ultimately celebrate new beauty through ‘the art to dress’,” states the designer.
For its return to the runway, Maison Margiela presented its Fall/Winter 2022-23 Artisanal line using the storyline of a film entitled ‘Cinema Inferno’, conceived by the House’s Creative Director John Galliano and performed at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris. Galliano was a pioneer in the use of storytelling to elevate fashion shows from a commercial showcase to an artistic statement, most notably in his spectacular shows for Dior and his own namesake brand.
In true Maison Margiela style, Galliano played with texture, showing artfully draped tulle, prom dresses constructed in tulle and double-duchess silk satin paired with aviator inspired latex caps. The collection is an eclectic range of garments that once again showcase the designer’s extreme creativity and rich imagination.
Rahul Mishra is the first Indian designer to showcase at Paris Haute Couture Week Combining “slow fashion” with traditional Indian crafts, his garments finds their genesis in the ideas of sustainability that present fashion as a tool to create participation and empower the local craft community of India. The brand’s process of hand-weaving and hand embroidery facilitates sustainable livelihoods for more than 1000 artisans in India. The design house that works on the philosophy of the 3 E’s - Environment, Employment, and Empowerment, aims to look at luxury from the lens of participation and not just consumption.
His collection, ’The Tree of Life’, is a manifestation of nature’s abundance."We have pushed to discover new frontiers in our exploration of three dimensional embroidery that lends a distinct shape shifting essence to the silhouette,” states Mishra. “The entire ecosystem comes alive through intricately hand-embroidered flora and fauna that strike a balance between realism and imagination."
Imane Ayissi was born in Cameroun. He was once a member of the Ballet National du Cameroun and subsequently toured with singers and choreographers, which involved travelling to the four corners of the world.
Ayissi now dedicates himself to his work as a couturier and designer. His garments meld African traditions and realities with western fashion, and his collections combine craftsmanship, materials and traditional African art inspirations together with his use of innovative fabrics. There is also often an infusion of typically African-style bricolage or recycling work with references to Parisian Haute Couture and contemporary creativity. Madeleine Vionnet, Cristobal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent are just a handful of legendary designers from whom Ayissi derives inspiration.
