Is couture still about extravagance and glamour, or are we headed towards a more apparent shift for ready-to-wear collection posing as couture, owing to the increase in the spending power of emerging markets? The latter is brought into perspective in the following analysis...

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The fashion system is currently undergoing a major evolution – a
revolution – even in terms of where the identity of its various
entities lies.
Which season are we seeing? What is being presented? Are we at
couture, pre-fall or resort? Do these garments fall under the
category of ready-to-wear or made-to-measure?
The world is in constant discussion regarding disruption as a way
forward across various fields, and the fashion industry does not
stay immune to it… A state of uneasiness and upheaval was
evident owing to the disjoint happening at the Haute Couture
Week, this season, which raised a question regarding the
feasibility of couture in coming times and what it stands for today.
Is it still about extravagance and glamour, or are we headed
towards a more apparent shift for ready-to-wear collections in
couture owing to the increase in the spending power of emerging
markets?
The latter is brought into perspective with the decision to
welcome and include American talent with respect to ace design
houses of Rodarte and Proenza Schouler, who were invited to
showcase their collections at the prestigious Couture Week held
exclusively in Paris, along with Peter Dundas. A move that
certainly hints on a wider acceptance targeted towards the
industry’s expansion but at the same time somewhat also takes
away the allure and regality associated with haute couture.
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
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The fact that many of the presentations showcased ready-to-
wear, daywear and experimental pieces – owing to avant-garde
designers such as Maison Margiela, Iris van Herpen and Viktor
and Rolf – signal a shift to an era that sees a rise in wearable
streetwear inspired fashion.
Not that any of these designers are lacking, but just that their
fields are very different as opposed to haute couture in the
traditional sense of the word.
And thus the resulting reaction from the assemblage was one
filled with curiosity, uncertainty, bafflement and awe – as all
couture showcases are deserving of awe.
This season saw a battle of wits between traditionalists and
modernists coming full throttle to give birth to a yet unnamed
branch of fashion that sits somewhere between the confines
of couture and ready-to-wear – a universe which we shall have
the honour of navigating our way through in the approaching
seasons.
FFT puts together 5 of the most thought-provoking
presentations by designers who have contributed towards
channelling the (conflictingly) apparent ‘shift’ in the industry,
owing to their signature style, craftsmanship, workmanship
and how they amalgamate the three to translate their genius
into the world of haute couture.
A
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
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4. Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
Proenza Schouler Spring 2018 Ready-to-Wear
Founded by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, it was New York-based label, Proenza Schouler’s
first outing for Couture Week in Paris for its Spring/Summer 2018 collection.
“One collection, one world,”is how one half of the label Lazaro Hernandez described the collection which
delivered in equal parts ready-to-wear, made-to-measure, along with a few resort influences as well.
The duo put in hours researching on independent ateliers located within Paris that specialize in artisanal
techniques, to collaborate with them for ribbon work, feather applications and hand-weaving.
The brand stuck true to its signatures and focused on surface work, powdery looks and fluffy textures to
inject a certain dose of French classicism.
A heady romance of flared and tiered ruffles, corsetry inspired details, 3D appliqué florals and lace
caressed shoulder baring silhouettes that were paired with generously slit skirts.
Exemplary masterpieces of construction were presented via asymmetrical hems, corsetry-inspired
details, hooks and eye closures, layering techniques and smartly executed exposure.
Details included off-the-shoulder styles, trailing ribbons, lace embroidered flared pants, calf grazing floral
and jacquard coats which were at times layered under leather bodices and halters. Asymmetric hook and
eye corset tops over flapper style dresses were adorned with feather rings and 3D rosettes created out of
ribbons.
Smocking jackets that featured intricate handwork, skin-tight ribbed knitwear contradicted by leather
corseted bralettes and lace and tulle dresses that featured draped ruffles along the front line, created the
perfect blend of Americanism and French craftsmanship.
This move comes in an effort to enhance their sales and to appeal to a larger gamut of clients and
buyers internationally.
“Currently a large percentage of the brand’s sales are placed during the pre-collection market with the
smaller balance going to the runway delivery, which, in truth, is the heart and soul of the Proenza
Schouler brand. This shift in strategy will ensure that Proenza Schouler’s runway collection, including
both ready-to-wear and accessories, will be the focus of buys and get delivered to stores earlier, thus
giving them a longer life at retail,”the company expressed in a news statement.

5. Proenza Schouler
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention

6. Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
Rodarte Spring 2018 Ready-to-Wear
California-based fashion house, Rodarte, which normally showcases its collections at New York Fashion Week,
was invited to the exclusive Haute Couture Week that is held in Paris biannually.
Founded in 2005 by sister duo Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the label presented its Spring/Summer 2018 collection
in Paris’s Cloître Port Royal Gardens, keeping up with its reputation of balancing equal parts of romantic with
grunge-chic.
A fantastical ambience overflowing with dreamy baby’s breath florals followed suit within presentational
details – bouquets grazing across the floor, tiaras and crowns made of the delicate florals accessorizing subtle
waves of hair and garlands draped like shawls balanced over elbows… has a certain sense of déjà vu à la
garden gnome faeries enveloped you yet?
The duo injected a generous dose of dreaminess into the garments by including an abundance of frills and
ruffles in a myriad of crop tops, asymmetrical dresses and skirts, adorning the shoulders and bust or just
casually cascading down in tiers over semi-sheer numbers.
Bringing the house’s exquisite workmanship to the fore, fabric manipulation in terms of leather studded with
pearls, tiered into flounces; and ostrich feathers used abundantly in a riot of colours, balanced out the
otherwise sheer bases of garments.
Floral-print chiffon dresses and jumpsuits in a palette of pastels, nudes and magenta and lemon came as a
surprising breath of fresh air from Rodarte’s usually bolder and deeper hues.
Details such as floral appliqué, caviar beads and metallic bow shaped belt buckles, hair clips and arm cuffs
exuded a feminine charm which was further highlighted through Edwardian collars laced at the edges.
The sleeves were flouncy and puffed up – a revival of the leg-o-mutton it seems, while the semi-sheer and tulle
dresses featured delicate embellishments, asymmetrical hems, off-shoulder silhouettes and self-designed lace
that lent uniformity across the collection.
Pearl studded low-waist leather pants coordinated with motocross jackets, whimsical crop tops and metallic
bow belts, balanced alongside leather high shaft boots, portrayed the edgier side of Rodarte.
The Rodarte woman of today channels in copious amounts of romantic yearning in a world overly
overshadowed by its counterparts; a perfect example of an oyster with a hard exterior, holding within itself a
magnificent heart.

7. Rodarte
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention

8. Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2017 Couture
As summer waltzes into full spring, master dressmaker Jean Paul Gaultier,
decides to conjure up a winter wonderland of sorts, for the presentation of his
Fall 2017 couture collection.
Garnering inspiration from far and wide, the designer assimilated his best skills
and techniques that made it hard for us to point at one particular muse. We were
treated to a plethora of textured and knit outerwear, oversized ski sweaters,
metallic cropped puffer/padded jackets, velvet ski pants that featured sloganary
details emblazoned across surfaces that read, ‘Santa Clothes’, ‘Anna Winter’ and
‘Be Polaire’.
But what came as an unmissable surprise was a blaringly evident Indian
influence. Draped tunics and separates featuring broad and powerful shoulders
and gossamer floor-length dresses strongly mimicked the traditional Indian sari
in all its glory – styles even had the trailing end covering the top of the head in
classic Indian fashion.
There was a sheared black rabbit fur jacket encrusted with beads, a beaded Aran-
knit sweater lined with mink, a quilted velvet coat that featured kimono sleeves
balanced out with crepe dresses that were belted at the waist, which featured an
asymmetric cowl and a velvet skirt suit embroidered with snowflakes, which
flaunted immaculate tailoring.
The inspirations were too much to chew on and to contain, but Gaultier takes his
job seriously and did not fail to impress by the inclusion of details such as
Swarovski, beaded and pearl embellishments sprinkled over tulles and knits,
ostrich feathers and velvet flocking.
Structure married fine tailoring in a shower of inspiration on a bright sunny day at
Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall 2017 couture showcase.

9. Jean Paul Gaultier
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention

10. Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
Maison Margiela Artisanal Fall 2017 Couture
The design headquarters of the house, which used to be a religious academy in the
19th century and a technical school before Margiela made it his own, served as the
perfect milieu for Galliano’s collection that was wholly inspired from, ‘the idea of new
glamour’.
In a preview before the main presentation, the designer explained how he wanted to
reconnoiter the modern speed of glamour and talked of his woman saying, “She puts
on a red lip, she grabs a humble coat in haste and is out.”
The collection picked up the chaste elements of conventional glamour such as
sharp red nails, high heels, a defiant décolleté, feathers and sequins – and really
turned these up over their heads. Deconstructing basics and doing what both
Margiela and Galliano have in common, the latter presented reinvented versions of
‘grab and go’ pieces, exploiting the trench coat and using each of its details like the
belted waistline, cardboard beige colour and of course its manly vibe giving them his
own twists.
Keeping up with his distortive ways, he ribbed the trench’s gabardine to mirror
corrugated cardboard; used translucent organza decorated with large paillettes to
make frilly coat dresses; slashed out sleeves, cut out bustiers on moulded linocut
dresses and used embroidery to create optical illusions around the bosoms.
Cunningly peacocking between nonchalant mishmash and fastidious composition –
he put crystal threads on tulle bodices, superimposed layers of fabrics together and
not to forget the trifling exaggerations on tattered silhouettes to weave it all together.
Intermingling these with Scandinavian intarsia sweaters in heavy cable knits and
metallic cowboy boots all through the collections, he kept up the cohesive ad hoc
appeal of the Fall/Winter 2017 couture collection.

11. Maison Margiela Artisanal
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention

12. Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention
Iris Van Herpen Fall 2017 Couture
As the lines between fact and fantasy continue to blur out owing to the social and political happenings
around the world, reality itself becomes surreal.
Enter master of surrealism, Iris van Herpen, who has inadvertently earned a name for herself in the
universe that exists between the two cornerstones of tradition and technology.
Known for her avant-garde techniques and sense of style, the Amsterdam based designer shifted her
schedule to Paris on an invitation of the Fédération Française de la Couture in Spring 2011.
The designer’s Fall 2017 Couture collection also marked her namesake brand’s 10th anniversary, for
which she presented 18 futuristic looks that blurred the boundaries between allure associated with
couture and the complexity of mind associated with scientific technology.
As per presentation notes, the collection explores ‘the nature and anatomy of air and the power of
water’, and the fluidity characterized by both.
Complex lazer-cutting techniques went hand-in-hand with heat bonding processes that translated
themselves onto garments that were 3D moulded and fused into form.
Harpen worked magically with barely-there materials such as tulle and organza to create masterpieces
that mimicked the lightness of air and the surface of water. Wave-like patterns were created on floor-
grazing gowns in organza by printing linear patterns over the translucent fabric which was then
pleated to mirror the rippled effect associated with water.
A short dress flaunted columns of silver lace which were laser cut and pleated in moiré
patterned organza to create undulating ruffles, while in another piece, thin strips of silver were hand
stitched into a turtleneck mini dress giving the illusion of being formed by liquid mercury.
The most experimental piece came in the form of a dress which was crafted out of feather-weight
metal wires that were cut into geodesic 3D flower patterns strewn together to create an installation-
worthy costume.
Often considered as parallel universes, fashion and technology are in fact inseparably connected, now
more than ever before, and Iris van Herpen aims to explore the same concept in terms of reconciling
the world of handmade with technology in the creation of haute couture.

13. Iris Van Herpen
Disruptive Flux at Haute Couture…
Challenging Convention

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