Facing a luxury spending slump, designers are pushing ‘beyond’ on all levels. Paris Fashion Week A/W 25 was awash with an array of concepts and intricate craftsmanship that defy neat trend buckets. The best fashion designers are always equipped with a remarkable compass that helps shape our emotional, aesthetic and style tempo.
At Paris Fashion Week (PFW), with a mega schedule of 72 shows and 37 presentations, that compass was whirling. History has been at the forefront as Victorian dandies were on display at McQueen and Dior, who paraded 18th-century style doublets. There were shape shifting silhouettes (cubist tailoring at Junya Watanabe, padded hip maxi skirts and giant ruffled Jacobean shoulders at Alaia) and a taste for splendour; whether that be bejewelled baroque jackets at Schiaparelli; snapper back lambskin coats and tailored shorts at Hermès, or a floor length carnation red shearling fur coat at Balenciaga.
The sheer array of concepts, the intricacy of craftsmanship and myriad points of view defy neat trend buckets. There’s a commitment in Paris to the extraordinary, to transcendence and to the ultimate seduction of deep-pocketed clients and fashion fans alike. Facing a luxury spending slump, designers are pushing ‘beyond’ on all levels.
“I wanted to make things that can inspire, and that can never be replicated by fast fashion. The women in my life are lone stars - there’s no one else like them, and there could never be. I hope they, and all women, .
