Attention Deficit?-?Haute Couture?2023

What an electric city?Paris?is during?Haute Couture Week?in January! The menswear shows end just before Couture begins, and the city continues on the same high energy for another week.

At the entrance of?Le Cheval Blanc Hotel, throngs of fans await the exit of influencers and stars invited to attend the shows. The scene repeats itself at every fashionable hotel on the Right Bank, with few exceptions. It's the influencers who, dressed by the designers, provide the first glimpse of fashion excitement on the streets of Paris.?

The entire creative universe concentrates on Paris to lend a hand in this spectacle that contributes to Paris being the fashion capital. After the pandemic, Paris is the gravitational center of everything excellent and current.?

There are high jewelry presentations, new patisserie confections that celebrate culinary experimentation, art exhibits at the?Bourse, the art center of the?Pinault collection, and everything that supports the world of Luxury.

Near the?Place Vend?me, endless "bread lines" in front of?Le Meurice?to taste the latest chocolate chip cookie by?Credric Groller, the pastry chef who is an Instagram influencer in his own right. High Tea at the?Ritz?is a sought-after reservation, several weeks in the waiting. And at the?Georges V, the dining room is filled with American, Asian, and Arab visitors talking deals while snacking on tiny Spanish "gambas" — the smaller shrimp I have ever seen, almost as small as krill!

Then there is Haute Couture.?Messengers zoom around delivering garment bags to the hotels where the fashion flock stays. It's an intricate game of logistics, executed as if masterminded by an air traffic controller. Loads of accessories, gifts, flowers, and more wardrobe pieces, all to orchestrate the all-powerful "exit" and appearance on the red carpet of a collection.

The power of the Influencers cannot be understated. While celebrity stylists carry their valuable cache, the influencers move the needle of Attention for social media and the press. And these days, it's all about commanding Attention.

How can you command your audience's Attention? Is it through a Roar? Like the one heard at?Schiaparelli?when the shows began? Or with an upside gown, like those shown by?Viktor & Rolf? Are we continuing to seek the Attention of our world? We are all undernourished narcissists, reliably seduced by the promise of the next elixir of Attention.

?Fashion is, above all, a Spectacle. A Spectacle that often relies on deception rather than substance. This season in Paris, the trick was less about creative inspiration and more about shock value.

SCHIAPARELLI

Dante's Inferno inspired?Daniel Roseberry?for his latest collection at?Schiaparelli. Seeking high-art inspiration like several other designers at Couture,?Mr. Roseberry?relied on theatrics rather than good, old-fashioned technique. The show extended into audience participation, with?Doja Cat?enduring 5 hours of?Pat McGrath's?application of red crystals on her red-painted skin. This terrifying vision was outdone only by the fake — yet exquisitely lifelike — lion's head placed on a dress worn by?Kylie Jenner.

Schiaparelli?collections have become repetitious. A?Schiaparelli?retrospective at the?Musee des Arts Decoratifs?showed the true impact of?Mme Schiaparelli as a designer. The creative collaborations, technique, and bold use of ornamentation rendered in the most delicate Couture techniques illustrated why she became a legend.

A 4th of the exhibit was dedicated to?Mr. Roseberry.?It was an unfortunate omission to not reference the work of other brand designers — such as?Christian Lacroix?and?Bertrand Guyon. I guess it was a necessary tribute for a creative director who kept the?Schiaparelli?name in the press.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER?

When?JPG?retired and left his Haute Couture to other designers to interpret, nobody could have predicted the fun that exercise would generate. From?Sacai?to?Olivier Rousteing,?a chain of high-powered creativity culminated with the latest collection by?Haider Ackermann.

Apart from a return to rigorous elegance, the real trend here was the angularity?Mr. Ackermann?infused into this collection. A testament to what a talented tailor and artisan can achieve given the right opportunity.

The clothes carried their volume level. It was what fashion needed to move in a new direction, away from the din of graphics and uncertainty of silhouette. There were flashes of?Gianfranco Ferré?in slim trousers, but primarily?Pierre Cardin, where?JPG?himself learned the art of fine tailoring.

The color palette carried the designer's confidence, culminating in a beautiful purple column of a dress, an example of Haute Couture refinement that ought to be walked over to?Avenue Georges V?and dropped off at?Balenciaga?by one of those Parisian messengers.

DIOR

Nobody can accuse?Maria Grazia Chiuri?of not knowing the?Dior?customer. Apart from the obligatory reference to a high-minded idea — in this case, the involvement of artist?Mickalene Thomas?to create the backdrop to the show, which featured images of 13 Black female performers,?Josephine Baker, Diahann Carroll, Marpessa Dawn, Lena Horne,?and?Nina Simone.

The designer's collection drew inspiration from early 20th-century female entertainers like?Josephine Baker.?The careful styling, with well-judged proportions and combinations, made the entire collection feel current, classy, and entirely wearable. Not memorable, but modern.

VICTOR & ROLF

What can you say when a dress walks beside the model? What kind of fashion magician can conjure up this type of sorcery? How about a gown that lays sideways across the torso of the model??

It was?Viktor & Rolf?who put this show together to a fashion crowd full of open mouths who watched in disbelief as a show of elegant evening clothes in tulle morphed into this show of Couture-as-Spectacle of the highest order. For a fashion historian, this collection was a must-see.

Fashion is an integral element of how we tell stories. If some of this season's collections were the perpetrators (Giambattista Valli, oy!) or the crime (Valentino), we could always curl up with the inventive plot lines dreamed up by Haute Couture.

Simoudis I D?develops brand identity, brand strategy, and digital marketing programs for exceptional brands. Our publication,?Luxe Trends, provides expert Monitoring, Analysis, and Curation of the Luxury industry.