The Spring/Summer Runway shows are generally considered the best in the fashion schedule. The weather is perfect, the shows are exciting and upbeat and the fashion often throws the masses into a frenzy. The SS16 shows were no different and we were excited to see all of our favourite collections up close and personal.
This season, designers like Isabel Marant, Chloe and Saint Laurent transport us back in time to the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Proenza Schouler, Stella McCartney and Celine focus on details, prints and luxurious fabrications, and Valentino and Junya Watanabe take us on a journey to Africa. Overall a fabulous runway season!
PROENZA SCHOULER
Kicking off New York fashion week with a bang, Proenza Schouler presented one of our favourite collections this season.
Influenced heavily by Spain and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s vision of “things that peel away from the body”, the collection features ruffles, exposed shoulders, velvet bows and knits.
The colour palette of the collection is distinctly Catalonian, with deep red, pure white and black all featuring heavily on everything including ruffled evening gowns, pleated pants and halter neck blouses.
MSGM
As one of the newer collections on the show schedule, MSGM has experienced an almost meteoric rise to fame. This is due in large part to bright and vibrant collections that are scooped up by street style icons and then in turn photographed by street style photographers who can’t resist the bright colours and statement prints.
The Spring/Summer 16 collection produces more of the same with textured cocktail dresses, upbeat separates and flowing printed maxi dresses. The vibe is more tomboyish than previous seasons. Lords of Dogtown is cited as the main inspiration, however there is still the tell-tale femininity that has become a signature for MSGM every season.
CHLOE
On every seat at the Chloe SS16 show there was a printed note declaring “This season’s collection is a tribute to girls named Kate, Chloé, Cecilia, Corinne, Rosemary, Emma, and Courtney, who embody the liberty and the elegance of a perfectly mastered and excessively lived simplicity.”
Claire Waight Keller wanted her Summer runway show to embody the iconic 90’s girl and the youthful optimism and joy that she experienced working and growing up in fashion during that time. She projects this vision with striped silk maxi skirts, oversized denim dresses, intricately detailed lace peasant tops and a pair of overalls that will definitely feature at Coachella next year.
Waight Keller also introduces Chloe’s version of “Athleisure”with luxe track pants that featured a rainbow stripe down the side and track jackets in Chloe’s signature earthy colour palette.
ISABEL MARANT
Always one of the most anticipated shows on the schedule, Isabel Marant presented a collection that mixed time eras in only a way that she could. Marant’s SS15 runway show merged the eccentric moods of the 70’s with the billowy shapes and rounded silhouettes of the 80’s and the result was reminiscent of her 90’s origins.
Stand-outs from this season’s offerings are jackets covered in colourful fabrics sourced from Rajasthan in North India, a pair of drop crotch slouchy pants in gold lurex and striped layering separates that will undoubtedly cause long client waiting lists.
COMME DES GARCONS COMME DES GARCONS
Only a select few are invited to the Comme Comme presentation every season and we are lucky enough to be included. Held in a tiny room in the Comme des Garcons headquarters in Place Vendome, this season’s Comme Comme woman referenced everything from a rustic aesthetic to 19th century tailoring as only Rei Kawakubo can do.
Our favourites this season are striped separates in easy shapes, signature drop crotch suiting pants in classic pinstripe and light linen and classic Comme knits in their iconic colour palette of grey, navy and black. Classic Comme at its best.
JUNYA WATANABE
Held at the National Museum of Immigration History, Junya Watanabe presented a very-apt collection steeped in African references. From billowing African-printed dresses, tunics and pants, a fabulous knitted tiger print scarf, to the models make up which referenced African tribal scarification marks, the Summer collection from Watanabe was undoubtedly all about the African continent.
KENZO
Kenzo’s SS16 woman is nomadic, global and searching for an endless summer. At its core, the Kenzo fashion house is as worldly as its SS16 woman; a French fashion house, established by Japanese designer Kenzo Takada and now helmed by Californian duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim.
This season’s show was held in a huge warehouse space in the 19th Arrondissement and was a candy-coloured moving confection. Models strode down the runway in bright prints, knitted lace body suits, and neon geometric swimwear as the set moved around them. A mesmerising show!
BALENCIAGA
Alexander Wang said goodbye to his time at Balenciaga with an artfully crafted Summer collection that is light, soft and irresistibly feminine. Dresses have a distinctly bridal feeling with lace and chiffon featuring heavily in many pieces but there is also Wang’s signature sporty aesthetic visible in oversized cargo pants and tactile tank tops.
With Wang leaving, we are now excited to see what new Creative Director Demna Gvasalia of Vetements has in-store for Balenciaga!
ACNE
This season Acne Studios’ creative director Jonny Johansson is inspired by the 80’s electro and 90’s rave culture and music scene. This is evident in the Grace Jones-eque boxy silhouettes, sheer crochet and bright colours that feature heavily in the summer collection. Some of our favourite looks from the show include an oversized boxy man style blazer, a crocheted min dress and silk slip dress in silver.
ELLERY
A massive congratulations to Kym Ellery who was officially on this season’s Paris Fashion Week schedule. Her Spring/Summer show was held at the Palais du Tokyo and was a grand success!
This season Ellery is inspired by the 1969 work Wrapped Coast by Christo and Jeanne-Claude which saw over a mile and a half of Sydney coastline covered in tarp. The inspiration shines through in her signature oversized silhouettes and the sleeves of her dresses and pants flared with liberal amounts of fabric.
Our favourite story from the show were her closing looks which saw a crinkly metallic fabric melded into three simple long-sleeve dresses that pointed the Ellery woman into the future of fashion.
JACQUEMUS
The most recent winner of the LVMH Young Designer Award, Jacquemus has burst onto the fashion scene from the south of France and become the new face to watch.
Jacquemus, a protege of Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kewekubo, is known for its deconstructed shirts and separates and exaggerated proportions. This season’s collection is typical of the Jacquemus girl with crisply cut shirting and deconstructed dresses dominating the collection.
We are looking forward to this collection arriving at Parlour X in February 2016!
STELLA MCCARTNEY
Held in the palatial Musique de la Opera every season, Stella McCartney’s Summer runway shows are often her best.
This season McCartney works on the idea that summertime dressing should be effortless. The result is beautifully pleated dresses in trapeze maxi shapes, embroidered handkerchief party dresses and plaid printed silk separates.
McCartney also focuses on fantastic knitwear separates that have become a more regular feature in her summer runway shows than one would expect. Like many other collections this season, McCartney’s knitwear has a distinctly sporty/activewear vibe that emphasises her seasonal theme of effortlessness.
VETEMENTS
Along with Jacquemus, the new kids on the fashion block that everyone is talking about are Vetements. Established by Georgian brothers Demna and Guram Gvasalia, formerly of Maison Martin Margiela, the quirky and alternative Vetements has caused a shake-up in the fashion world dominated by luxury.
With a huge fashion crowd watching, the SS16 Vetements runway showcased oversized silhouettes, textured fabrics and deconstructed dresses with a distinctly 90’s theme. We in particular loved the loose prairie-flower print!
CELINE
Phoebe Philo’s Spring/Summer Collection for Celine this season is all about travel. Philo declared that her SS16 collection is "about taking her out of urban life and putting her feet on the sand. It’s where I long to be, more and more…..I am somebody who is interested in how clothes make us feel and in how we behave in different places. I thought, if you were traveling for a year, what would you need to take with you”.
Lace slip dresses, chunky knit jumpers, floaty ballet-style skirts all point to the Celine woman travelling far and wide in Philo’s vision. Our favourites from this season include a fantastic A-Line skirt with this season’s distinct lace embroidery and a chic classic cropped cotton shirt.
SAINT LAURENT
The vibe at Saint Laurent is distinctly festival themed. Whether it be Coachella, Glastonbury or Rotheskilde, there is no doubt that the SS16 Saint Laurent woman will be seen at all of these festivals in the next year.
Hedi Slimane has built the Saint Laurent brand around the idea of youth-culture-made-marketable and his offering of tapestry embroidered bomber jackets, leopard print coats and floral printed dresses is a reflection of that. The tiaras that the models wore were the ultimate throwback to the 90’s but somehow worked in only a way that Saint Laurent under Slimane could.
VALENTINO
The closing show for the Paris Fashion Week schedule was Valentino. This season Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri had a direct message for the fashion world, “The message is tolerance. And the beauty that comes out of cross-cultural expression”.
With the current refugee crisis in Europe and the unrest and upheaval the world is experiencing, it is refreshing to see a luxury house acknowledging current social issues.
This season Italian and African traditions meet in textiles, patterns and fabrications and the result is a beautiful and heartfelt fusion. There are tribal elements throughout the collection including Masai-style necklines, pagan necklaces with traditional African-animal icons and leather-studded detailing.
A fabulous end to the SS16 Fashion schedule.
Stay tuned for our next post - SS16 STREET STYLE