1. Overt Sex and Sexuality
Nick Haramis, editor at large: We started to notice, particularly when we were in Milan, a hypersexualized approach. It was most prevalent at Dario Vitale’s debut at Versace, where he presented his own version of Gianni’s take on 1980s Miami.
Patrick Li, creative director: The show was phenomenal and suggested a rawer, pre-glamazon Versace. I think it was a supersmart reset.
N.H.: There was almost a lewdness to the styling: Backless T-shirts on really muscular men. One attendee, who’d been dressed by the brand, wore his pants unbuttoned and cinched with a cock ring. The explicit take made us think about whether or not that expression of sex feels performative, like a cosplay of a different era, or authentic to this moment.
Kate Lanphear, women’s style director: It felt downright smutty in a delightful way. But it prompted the question “Does sex still sell?” Dario was most recently at Miu Miu, where the approach to design is a little bit more intellectualized, but can carnal be cerebral? Perhaps, though that also felt at odds with an attempt to strip Versace down to an essence of sexiness. In Paris, Haider Ackermann tapped into Tom Ford’s legacy of overt yet elegant erotic provocation. The show was quasi-performance art and a live interpretation of the risqué Opium ads from Tom Ford’s era at Saint Laurent, modernized and made even more refined, androgynous and sinuous through Ackermann’s lens.
Jaclyn Bloomfield, market editor: Alexander McQueen had visible thongs adorned with charms.
K.L.: Oh, yeah, Seán McGirr brought the notorious bumster pants back. And at Miguel Castro Freitas’s debut for Mugler, he showed a dress suspended from nipple rings.
N.H.: Duran Lantink’s debut for Jean Paul Gaultier presented a cartoonish expression of sex and sexuality, with a baked-in sense of humor. The model Lulu Tenney came out in what looked like a unitard with a trompe l’oeil image of a hairy nude male body.
P.L.: Jil Sander, on the other hand, was very subtle. It was focused on specific cuts and cutouts that revealed skin, like the thigh or the back of the neck, for example.
Jameson Montgomery, fashion assistant: I thought those Lucio Fontana-inspired slits at Jil Sander were kind of sexy in their own way.
K.L.: Definitely — where sexiness and minimalism meet.
2. Tradwives Subverted
K.L.: Miu Miu showed floral and ruffled aprons — the kind your grandmother would put on to bake cupcakes. At Prada, there were bejeweled dirndls atop prim pleated skirts that signaled traditionalism and domesticity. What I think was genius was the casting. The models weren’t typically ladylike — there was a toughness and an androgyny to them and, underneath their aprons, some of them had on chore coats or leather jackets, evoking the more utilitarian uniforms that you might have seen women wear in times of austerity.
J.M.: I think that’s what makes it different than in past seasons, where we’ve explored the tradwife in a domestic setting. At Miu Miu, the set looked like an industrial cafeteria, so you had these pieces that felt in-the-kitchen mixed with others you’d find on a factory floor.
N.H.: We went to a very late August Barron show at a nightclub on the outskirts of Paris. It had these conventionally beautiful dresses that were worn by a largely queer and trans cast, and the models all came out and posed in a set made to look like a suburban living room, which felt like a modern proposal.
J.M.: One of my favorite shows of the season was Chopova Lowena, which riffed on another archetype: the American cheerleader. The designers spoke about being bullied by those girls in their youth and reclaiming that language with pieces like varsity jackets and these head-to-toe striped looks. There were these ultrafeminine notes that became sort of macabre.
K.L.: Beauty-wise, at Vivienne Westwood, the model Isabeli Fontana was in very heavy makeup. I was so struck by the idea of putting such a classic beauty in almost aggressive war paint. It screamed, “I will not be domesticated,” and it made me think of that scene from David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” where Diane Ladd’s character is doing her lipstick.
P.L.: You could probably cite Dolce & Gabbana as a nod to homemakers, or homewreckers, too, given all the pajamas and lacy negligees — underwear as complete looks. Jil Sander showed a transparent floral-printed plastic coat, like a repurposed kitchen table covering.
K.L.: If we’re talking about the home, we should mention the pillows and such.
J.M.: Probably 10 of the models at Simone Rocha were clutching them.
K.L.: Hodakova and Vetements used them too. There were dresses made out of pillows and bedsheets. At Loewe, models wore towel dresses, as if they’d just gotten out of the bath.
3. Dressy Daywear
N.H.: At a certain point, we started asking: Where are the clothes for women to wear during the day, when they’re going to the office?
K.L.: I was getting a bit panicked about this. Then, practically on cue, Celine made a really compelling argument for daywear. The models even had motorbike helmets on the runway, as if they’d commuted to the show in these clothes: comfortable to wear, easy to move in. Another person who delivered on the promise of real clothes was Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander. There was a sense that the people debuting at the helms of these important fashion houses were thinking critically about desire, enough to spark sales, and were simultaneously inspired by couture items and very simple, familiar ones. At Chanel, you had a feather ball skirt paired with a classic boxy white T-shirt, but done in sumptuous silk. At the Row, a beautiful, almost demi-couture skirt was tempered by a rather humble knit twin set. It all felt more wearable than in seasons past. There were denim miniskirts at Dior. Chanel did a brilliant collaboration with Charvet. I think we’re really moving past a period of absurdity in fashion.
N.H.: We’ve packed up the clown clothes.
K.L.: It’s time to get dressed up again. I also think people wanted to show off the craft of their new brands.
J.B.: In the photos of the runway show, some of the Chanel jackets look like classic tweed but, when you’re up close, you realize they’re actually crafted from extravagant beading. Absolutely stunning!
P.L.: There were also collared shirts or tops at Loewe that appeared textured. At first glance they looked straightforward, but were actually dimensional. And other basics, too, were more than what they seemed.
N.H.: We’d be remiss, when talking about craftsmanship, if we didn’t mention Louise Trotter’s Bottega Veneta debut, which included pieces made of fiberglass that evoked a luxurious carwash.
K.L.: I don’t know if I would put those special pieces in the wearable category, but the underpinnings qualify. They were paired with some pretty fantastic parachute pants. I also loved the accessories this season. Chanel’s brilliant wired 2.55 bag and the reworked Dior Lady Bag, with all the charming little shamrocks, felt like collector’s items. At the same time, the word I kept thinking of was “ease.”
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Nick Haramis is the editor at large of T Magazine.
Patrick Li is the creative director of T Magazine.
Kate Lanphear is the women’s style director of T Magazine.
Jameson Montgomery is a fashion assistant at T Magazine.
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