Lola Cristall is Paris editor of Lucire.

Paris’s haute couture intricacies

Haute couture fashion week’s five-day extravaganza in Paris is filled with sophistication, class and splendour, writes Lola Cristall

Tony Ward
Tony Ward practised tailoring as a youth and enrolled at the prestigious l’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. From closely studying the field of fashion, he worked with a few of the masters in the industry including Karl Lagerfeld for Chloé and Gianfranco Ferré for Christian Dior.

Ward’s collection was shown at a magnificent, traditional venue, the town hall in the 4e arrondissement of Paris. His new collection placed luxury on a pedestal, communicating the complexity and contradiction of nature. Inspired by William Turner’s oil painting Snow Storm, Ward conveyed weather patterns, wind and nature’s forces in his designs, with a skilful use of lace, tulle and silk. The contrast comes through their intensity and fragility.

Christian Dior

Wacoal
Lingerie brand Wacoal put on a flirtatious, sexy show at le Mini Palais. Wacoal internationally expanded over the years, having been founded in Japan by Koichi Tsukamoto in the 1940s. The evening’s exciting ‘Grand Reveal’ was based on a special announcement. The general director of Wacoal Holdings Corp., Yuzo Ide, announced that Wacoal Eveden Limited would transform into Wacoal Europe Limited in January 2015, led by Tracy Lewis. The expansion will permit the brand to reach out to a wider audience, primarily in Europe. Although they will create pieces to fulfil their European clientèle’s fashion interest, the collections will still be available to the Asian and American markets. Once invitees cheerfully raised a glass to the announcement, they were ready for the show to begin on the grand terrace.

From the vast indoor space, Lewis invited guests on the terrace to watch the collection. Intricately designed pieces permit the wearer, whether skinny or more curvaceous, to embrace her beauty from her bust down to her hips. A Wacoal woman displays an elegant allure with eye-catching exquisiteness.

Giambattista Valli

Menard
This season, luxury skin care brand Menard introduced insiders to the Authent Mask, comprising one for the face and another dedicated to the neck and décolleté. Each mask is induced with specific ingredients to rejuvenate one’s appearance. The face mask includes various grain extracts, including purple barley and sweet cherry, each working to soak their way right through the epidermis. To top it off, a special kind of mushroom, kinugasa dake, also appropriately named dame voilée (veiled woman) (below right), is added to the mix. Such an exclusive component stimulates the production of fibre collagen in the hypodermic layer. The latest Menard mask concept includes natural factors proven to highlight the user’s everlasting beauty, shunning unwanted wrinkles.

Chanel

Ilja
Dutch fashion designer, Ilja Visser, put on a stunning show at the residence of the Ambassador of the Netherlands. With fine wall tapestries and wooden floors, the ambiance was breathtaking, numerous white roses further beautifying the spacious setting. The designer transformed geometry into fashion, with complex shapes and prints showing an inventiveness and a real knowledge of structure, brought to life with sheer colour.

Giorgio Armani

Julien Fournié
The talented French stylist, Julien Fournié, launched his couture house in 2009. His new collection expresses how Fournié is captivated by a woman’s external beauty, and reflects his passion in highly detailed pieces that spark with ingenuity. His all-black ensembles purposely conveyed the idea of darkness, and how even in the blackest of creatures, there exists some light. Some of the couture pieces didn’t appear to keep to this theme, with stripes and bright organza, though Fournié still managed to tempt audiences with his autumn–winter 2014–15 creations.

Stéphane Rolland