The hegemony of Paris Fashion Week

Fashion is back – or at least that’s what symbol-supermodel Alex Consani stated on her Instagram story in glorious spirits, as per Paris Fashion Week’s culmination. Her words resonate in a grander chamber of constant reevaluation of fashion’s status quo during recent times. The criticism is nuanced and varied: as Marni creative director Francesco Risso‘s recent podcast of wisdom asserts, fashion’s pace is stalling creativity, while its self-referentiality often proves lackluster… not to add that its elite realms become less and less accessible to young creatives. Yet after eking out the supply of novelty and creative spirit amid this uproar, PFW rendered itself an indulgent feast – a sweet reminder that the core of the most glamorous industry is still holding. Gracefully, while at it.

Here is a selection of our favourite PFW A/W25 collections: some of them you may recognise as they completely monopolised our feeds for days on end, while others may have hovered just right under your radar.

Extravagance is endemic to the French capital – when you feel like there’s no other way to feel surprised, it means you just haven’t received an invitation (or Instagram live link) to the right show. This time around, the opening event of the category was Vaquera, capturing all of our expectations on luxury and literally blowing them out of proportion. In line with the brand’s eminent theatrical pursuit of fashion, we’re talking bralettes and pearl necklaces reaching the floor, dragging along with them the more and more untenable ideal of luxury. The concept of the American Dream has been tumultuously defining the brand identity through and through, and their newest collection put into perspective the creative pair’s stance on it – or rather on its elusiveness. Matières Fécales were next in line to have enchanted us with an ostentatious slap. If you weren’t there just a while back when the outraging couple took the cyber world by storm, their Paris show will surely indent their presence in your brain. For their couture debut, Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran sent a series of facsimile copies of themselves down the runway, all wearing size-exaggerated, derisively corporate silhouettes. As a blatant opinion against our cultural strive for normativity and blandness, Matières Fécales remind us not-so-kindly of what a world of strict uniformity implies (it’s in their name, in case you missed it). Duran Lantink may have had the most fun this season, with his body sculptures being the talk of the week. Accused of discourteous gimmickry with the use of “cheap looking” props, we saw beyond the glib criticism, right into its subversive value that flew right over everyone’s head. After all, creating your own narrative won’t come without backlash, and Lantink knows how to do radical effectively.

Our most acclaimed classics hit home run after home run, and Miu Miu is probably the most conspicuous in this series. Mrs. Prada brought her earnest reflections on her practice, anxieties and strives alike, congealing them into a collection of sensible disparities – her put-together signature was now complemented (and complimented) by laissez-faire pairings and somewhat distressed styling: bras and revealing tops crafted in pointy shapes, peeking from under droopy coats (a corporate HR’s worst possible nightmare); classic cuts veiled in gaudy colours; office-wear pieces (literally) seamless in their confluence with boudoir attire – all reinforcing that we should maybe slack off our 9-5’s and get a bit dreamier… and sexier. Ann Demeulemeester’s niche, dark verve followed this stylistic step-up – the designer’s irreplicable silhouettes came down the runway in a bohemian compendium of ruffles, dangles and feathers. The models carried themselves in a way through which Demeulemeester’s beatnik, punky geist was showcased in all of its grandeur. Lastly, the dichotomous use of sensual and formal peaked with Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s ready-to-wear assemblage: broad-shouldered coats, leather underwear, silky dresses. A lot of skin. 

Femininity and cuteness are the moment – they never exited the stage, really. On her catwalk permeated by girliness, Florentina Leitner’s playground proffered ruffles and ribbons in their divinely-intended form. As defined by the artist herself, the show was all about being miss popularity in college and then suddenly being abducted by aliens. Luckily, the hostages have a lot of wearable options. In addition to the classic soft, scholarly garments, the designer adorned her models’ bodies with pastel coloured hats and scarves, in resplendent contrast with fishnet tights and grunge makeup looks. Dare we say, it was all cast straight out of a dress-up game back in the internet’s prime age. As a cuteness corollary, we can conjecture that Róisín Pierce’s A/W collection will be haunting Pinterest searches for a while from now on. Sculptural and meticulous, the designer homogenised some disparate fantasies into one coherent array – think of lambs, angels and hypnosis, all turned couture. The best part of the show were the headpieces, serving as diligent embellishments atop the already elaborative sartorial pieces. RUIbuilt, with her Edge of Touch, showcased her autumn winter collection through a performance by Kominato Yotsuha. In a caricature of a teenage-y natural habitat, the actress dreamily dilly-dallies in a makeshift bedroom, eating fruit suggestively and admiring herself in any possible reflective surface, all while wearing the RUIbuilt-labeled daring garments. Buckles, metallic detailing and gauzy nylon are unmissed in this capsule composition of girlhood.

We left the hippest fashion dissidents towards a delectable end. As one of the most admired emerging designers, Kiko Kostadinov has been on a roll for quite a moment now. Having initially marketed himself solely in the speculative realms of menswear, the master pivoted quickly into massive gen-Z approval with his unparalleled womenswear line, behind which Laura and Deanna Fanning craft each time compelling techwear-meets-girly attire. However bulky, bold and sporty their collections get, they can never rid themselves of the intrinsic femininity their very wraith brings forth. At this season’s juncture, this was truer than ever – complex in bold colour, anti-symmetrical shapes and intrepid accessories, Kostadinov’s ready-to-wear failed to blind us away from its ineffaceable, tender qualities. Acne Studios’ collection felt a bit more removed from this blinding glare, and rooted more in the natural landscapes creative director Jonny Johansson embodied within its conception. Don’t take that for face value – colours were still striking, silhouettes were still amorphous. Yet, rather than spacey and alienesque, there was something deeply earth-resembling and grounded in the brand’s stylistic choice this season. At last, Ottolinger did not strike far from the raunchy, skin-indulgent image the Berlin brand has been promoting since their inception. Their A/W collection was titled Body/Corps/Soma, an enumeration foreseeing its fleshly treasury. Layering, obtrusive cuts, skin-coloured fabric and fur – these were the main constituents of the animalistic recipe served to us; and we consumed it as we were expected to, ardently and in its entirety.