Paris Sunday: Akris, Valentino, and Balenciaga

Three storied brands chronologically staged very disparate shows in Paris on Sunday – Akris, Valentino and Balenciaga. Their extreme differences an expression of the richness of the world’s most important runway season.
 
 

Akris: Clothes for brainy girls

If one really wants to know what the world’s lady decision makers are going to wear next winter, then an ideal place to start is at an Akris runway show.

Though the biggest advance was in a new series of rather remarkable materials: classy high-ridge corduroy seen in great coats and or coat dresses in impeccable wool blends.
 
Albert Kriemler’s big idea was expressed by the word Cyan, a Greek word denoting a certain hue of blue. But, in the end, working with an array of blues – indigo, cobalt, azure, lapis, admiral and, of course midnight – often flattered by the accessories, feathers trimming pumps, handbags or earrings.

Few brands create a more complete wardrobe than Akris. Perfectly polished suits to host board meetings or sign treaties; elegant grenadier cut parkas or denim dusters for weekend strolls.
 
Arty cocktails for art openings; or grand gowns for the Vienna State Opera or the Met in New York.
 
This season, Albert teamed up artist Alyson Shotz, and the resulting spiral and smoky prints were used cunningly in gallery owners’ sheathes or dramatic coats.

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All working together in a hyper-synched show staged flawlessly inside the remarkable medieval church College des Bernardins – just across the Seine from Notre Dame. Winning the self-confident but rather shy Albert one of the greatest ovations of his storied career.
 
Working with a new DJ Terence Fixmer to create a soundtrack that managed to be ethereal and industrial at the same time. Known for spinning inside Berlin’s dark and crazy nightclub Berghain, where parties can last three days. Leading one to ask the great intellect of Mittel European fashion, Albert, had he gone clubbing there himself?
 
A question which was met with an open mouth, a swallow and a faintly little boy shrug, but not a yes or no. Suggesting Kriemler was not unfamiliar with the dark side of Berlin.
 

Valentino: Gray Gardens in a Berlin nightclub toilet

At times watching this latest collection by Alessandro Michele one found oneself asking whether Michele had signed to work for Valentino, or had Valentino signed to work for Michele, or so self-indulgent was the whole event.

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Guests were invited into a large, sweaty black box along the Seine, to find themselves surrounded by some 70 toilet cubicles, everything inside the tent painted in founder Valentino Garavani’s sinful red. Pre-show, Michele’s old buddy Jared Leto and various K-pop stars took turns preening in front of cheap bathroom mirrors, again bathed in red fluorescent light.
 
Eventually, the show began as the cast took turns exiting their red cubicles to a thunderous soundtrack. After that, it was the case of the usual Michele suspects. Though, thankfully, Alessandro is a sufficiently inventive designer so the combinations looked fresh.
 
Opening with crisp pant suits; or peak shoulder skirt suits with three-inch fur trim. But, since we were in a loo, adding a good transgressive dollop. Starring gals in knickers and leotards undone at the crotch; some in satin bow bustiers and jeans; and others in long flowing silk skirts topped by full sheer mesh tops. 
 

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The cast done up with pale, goth makeup, endless Edie Bouvier Beale headbands and sunglasses. Not what most ladies wear inside public toilets, especially in Berlin, or Ibiza.
 
The show did have some kicky clothes – beautifully draped silk ribbon cocktails; silver ruffled lace frocks and snakeskin print knit dresses. And for guys, debonair blazers; or disco dragoon double-breasted jackets worn with red silk hunting shirts; and one fabulous funnel neck dressing gown/coat in beige cashmere.
 
No one could ever accuse Alessandro of not having a fertile imagination.  Though quite why he chose checkered flag sneakers, the sort of finds in discount bins on 14th street, was hard to fathom.   
 
The show ending with thunderous music, a blend of classic and industrial including a remix of “Ailanthus” by Julia Kent. A bombastic show, but not a brilliant one.
 

Balenciaga: pure and unadulterated 

Those who love their fashion to be dark, tough, after-hours and frequently all-weather chic should not have missed the latest show of Balenciaga by designer Demna.
 

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The bare necessities of a show this season, with a narrow, claustrophobic catwalk with 20-foot high curtains on either side. Everything element of the show set done in black.
 
A loud public warning by an MC to take our seats and one minute of “Moonlight Sonata” by Dr. Death + Mr. Vile, before we plunged into Demna’s singular world.
 
Opening with simple basics: a guy in a black suit and tie who could have passed for show security. A lad in dark pants and down vest that might have been from Uniqlo. Then the action kicked off with Demna daguerreotypes: a hyper cool matelassé padded bustier jacket, for guys and girls; a rock god leather redingote; a ribbed knit for guys that reached the knee.
 
Lots of returning refugee style, with guys in torn tank tops; outback rider boots and denim jackets with fur hoods so large the whole face was hidden.

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In the end, this was a statement show, by a gentleman who was a refugee from Sokhumi, the capital of the Georgian province of Abkhazia, a breakaway bandit state foisted on the local population by Putin.
 
Refugee chic is not just a trendy style statement. It is an indication in a runway show of the dangerously possible price that Eastern Europe could pay for Donald Trump’s embrace of the totalitarian leader of Russia.