The Valentino show was held in the bathroom.
It's not exactly a bathroom, but a large box in a Dumond Arab courtyard built to look like a massive, genderless public bathroom. The shining red Valentino lined up on the toilet stalls and sinking (without the urinal). The model wears a long lace dress with a cat's face on the torso or waist, completely from the toilet stall, completely in a creepy Valentino via Alessandro Mishret glory: a short bourgeois skirt suit over bicycle shorts. Polka dot pants with floral tie. Balaclava and handbags are available in abundance.
why? According to Michele, it had something to do with what he called the “metasitator” of intimacy and peering into the marginal space that transforms our private self into a public self through a dress. It's probably not a metaphor that he really should be in the toilet, or at least a stage set that suggests the brand, or at least its legacy.
Instead, it seemed like a powerful example of the current issue with amateur fashion theatre.
Once upon a time, role-playing such fantasys framed a bigger point. It gives clothing a story of origin and creates a stunning emotional connection. Or it was the turn of the millennium that this kind of production changed the catwalk of craft masters Alexander McQueen and John Galliano (which is also why Galliano Margiera Couture from January 2024 is still a reference point).
But increasingly as the show gets closer to entertainment, designers seem to lose sight of the connection by using visual histories and grandeur to attract attention (and break through social media confusion). They seem to believe that if there is enough decoration, no one will realise that they have not actually come up with new ideas.
After a show focused on “standards,” Dem, a mononic designer at Balenciaga and formerly one of the great practitioners of fashion stage craft, said, “We live when everyone wants to be the main character. But costumes are the ones I have problems right now, because it's not dreaming of me.”
When what's going on beyond the runway is more than enough distraction, it's just a distraction.
Gorgeousness and Pterodactyl
The issue was clearly evident on the McQueen Show. There, designer Seán McGirr seemed to be doing his best to experience the old McQueen moves on the brand's third outing. He faithfully built an elaborate set containing towering mahogany cabinets like wonderland. He then faithfully buried a series of damsels and dandies in ruffled chiffon, sharp shoulder jackets, high-raffes and bullion-covered evening wear.
The shearing jacket had a wing-like collar, so one large model was temporarily blinded by a flap and slammed at the edge of a wormhole. The effect was “Game of Thrones,” set in Queen Victoria's court, with St. Laurent thrown in volume, but at the heart of it was hollow. A lot of sounds and brocade means that not so much. Or not something that appears to be related to today.
That was certainly the case at Valentino, where the maximalism of Michele's trademark was fully displayed. As was the case, many thin lace gowns, and more lace tights, the body itself, many of them are painfully thin. It's hard to focus on the elegance of the black velvet gown on the neck when you're distracted by the female protruding chest cube inside.
What was hidden beneath many things were actually potentially persuasive ideas. An understatement of metal screws worn in old jeans. A completely cut plaid pantsuit with only a feather puff around the neck. However, they were difficult to see in the sights of all the outfits chewed.
In Dior, the fact that Maria Grazia Ciuli made a fashion proposal, and something very good, was lost in the surreal, dreamy scape of her collaboration with experimental director and playwright Robert Wilson.
The result was a show with five acts, with an over-audio reverberating “once once… once… once” echoing, a bloody red laser illuminated from above, and crystal iceberg scattered from the floor. There was a flying pterodactyl.
Oh yeah – and then there were clothes. Mainly derived from “Orlando”: bleach, doublet, ruffled shirts, editor, mainly black, white, beige in coarse linen. But they were also smart. Because, as Chiuli revealed in the preview, those big ruffles and crisp cuffs, neck ruffles and waist corsets are all removable, allowing the wearer to adapt her look. What resembles Lacy's little nothings was actually knit, and the camouflage trench coat was jcquard. These are pieces that look boring in the show's big explosion, but you'll have to look closer.
But hey: take a look at Pterodactyl!
Behind the scenes truth
That's exactly what made him show Balenciaga. Demna, whose ready-made shows took place at a 154-foot table in October 2024, would be better to assemble what was essentially a Balenciaga career retrospective, as she stripped off all the plays this time and created a narrow maze of black curtained corridors. It wasn't exactly calculated to subdue speculation that this could be the brand's last show, but it acted as a change of fashion, reminding me of how he strategically destroyed the status quo over the past decade.
There was a banker's lawsuit (some office wear trends are underway) with wrinkles and moth holes in it, and the fit was slightly tweaked and less shrinkable, but not much tweaked. A blue blue hoodie gown swept through the floor like a 1967 wedding dress and a sturdy wedding dress in the house. And the bulge of lilac quilted on a corset.
There was the streetwear I needed and some of them were a little more sloppy than usual. Also a PUMA collaboration. A hoodie labelled “luxury.” A silly swimming dress that was essentially a swimsuit with a train. and an evening coat with another puff with couture grandeur. Overall, it was easy and covered the grass.
“The standards are the most difficult,” Demna said behind the scenes. He wore one of his suits rather than the usual oversized T-shirt, calling his new look “Demna 2.0.” It was a joke, but I agreed with the symbols. It was a moment of leaning and focusing that he realized this.
“It's easy to make wearable art with a chair on your head,” he said. Making a jacket with two sleeves that looks good to many different people – this is fashion in the most important condition to me. ”
He's right.
