Haute Couture Week spring-summer 2024 kicked off with a bang – sorry, bangs, as Zendaya and her new fringe caused a paparazzi frenzy outside Schiaparelli — in the French capital. It was a day of hair transformations, with J Lo chopping off her glossy glamazon locks for her own moment on Daniel Roseberry’s front row, and Rihanna giving a lesson in haute cap styling at Dior.
There was plenty of striking beauty on the runways too. Simone Rocha’s guest collection for Jean Paul Gaultier dominated social media, thanks to the Irish designer’s highly photogenic takes on the provocateur’s archive: all Breton tees crafted entirely from ribbons, Madonna-esque conical bras turned thorny in homage to the roses Gaultier gave to models backstage, and transparent panniers made exquisite via Irish crochet twinkling with silver stones. “Haute couture is historical and romantic, so it was about introducing modernity, reality, an almost scientific approach to this project, to push it forward for today,” said Rocha of grounding the “untouchable” craft in the current moment
Rebooting couture for a new audience was also on Roseberry’s mind as he ruminated on AI versus artisanship at Schiaparelli. The most literal exemplar of his technological musings? The robot baby fashioned from old motherboards and mirrors, nestled on the hip of Maggie Maurer, who memorably walked the runway in London while pregnant in 2022.
Armani Privé was proof that the exceptional pieces pay off – literally. He dreamed up his undulating, peplummed, pastel tulle gowns with crystal bodices and fabulous peacock feather-esque headwear specifically with his elite clients in mind, after falling for the term “Haute Couture en Jeu”, which loosely translates as “couture is having fun”. “It was time for me to be courageous, to take risks, and to probably be a little less Armani,” he told Vogue Runway.
Pierpaolo Piccioli and his ornate disco ball Valentino capes, elevated inky black “naked” dresses, and turquoise fairytale ballgown skirts also leaned into the joy at the heart of couture. “You don’t have to feel the weight of the technique and of the handmade because ultimately couture is about the illusion of effortlessness,” Piccioli said of his approach. “The technique must disappear so as not to lose the magic – a magician remains a magician only until he reveals his secrets.”
There was also a lightness to Virginie Viard’s ballet-inspired Chanel collection. Her sugared-almond bouclé skirt suits and frothy, wedding-appropriate dresses had her loyal cohort craning their necks and tapping their feet to the Kendrick Lamar soundscape, which the rapper created for the show’s accompanying film, The Button, written and directed by Dave Free. When it came to big-budget productions, Viard won with her oh-so-pretty simplicity.
Maria Grazia Chiuri likewise focused on wearability within the craft, with a striking Dior collection of plain cotton and moire (a fabric usually employed in interior design) pieces inspired, in part, by Christian Dior’s 1952 La Cigale dress and his aerodynamic couture, which saw Monsieur Dior liken panniers to plane wings. The key difference in Chiuri’s collection propelling the house into spring-summer 2024? The removal of any “stuffing” to allow women to move freely. Expect to see Rihanna, who was seated front row, making moiré a thing.
For anyone tuning in for their bi-annual dose of no-holds-barred fantasia, futuristic Fendi, whimsical Giambattista Valli, and punkish Viktor & Rolf happily obliged with awards-season worthy looks befitting 2024’s leading ladies. The collection we want to see Emma Stone et al. wearing? Alaïa’s jaw-droppingly sexy edit of out-out dresses that were all miraculously knitted from a single yarn. A truly epic exclamation mark on the schedule.
A final moment for Maison Margiela, which rounded out the week with a darkly romantic, highly theatrical show that even the Kardashians couldn’t overshadow. Pannier dresses made an appearance again, but this time, they came cinched to the extreme with prosthetic underpinnings adding to the super-snatched hourglass silhouettes. Gwendoline Christie, who was born to enact John Galliano’s swaggering Belle Epoque brief with dolly make-up by Pat McGrath and tumbling ringlets by Duffy, joined an inclusive cast – something disappointingly lacking elsewhere on a supposedly forward-thinking schedule. For a small segment of the industry that is literally based on made-to-measure clothing, there is still a long way to go.
While the circus that surrounds couture often steals the spotlight over the hours and hours of painstaking detail it requires, Galliano showed that it’s possible to marry poetic excellence and spectacle-driven style. The other moments that defined couture spring-summer 2024 away from the noise (and J Lo’s wardrobe)? Alaïa’s 3D-printed swirling bandeau dress that was an ode to the curves of a woman and Pieter Mulier’s circle of friends; the breathtaking crystallized beauty masterminded by Thomas De Kluyver for Simone Rocha’s ode to JPG; and Maison Margiela’s eccentric characters, guided by movement director Pat Boguslawski, who celebrated individualism above everything. And that's everything you missed from this season of Haute Couture Week.
This post originally appeared in British Vogue.
