Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS
Published
Oct 4, 2022
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Paris: The art of cutting with Sacai, Rokh, Lanvin and Germanier

Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS
Published
Oct 4, 2022

On the Paris catwalks on Monday, it was all about trimming, cutting, tearing, recomposing, regenerating and embellishing. The designers, including Sacai, Rokh, Lanvin and Germanier, demonstrated on the eighth day of the women's ready-to-wear shows for spring-summer 2023 that they are masters of the art of scissor handling.
 

Sacai, SS23 - PixelFormula


As the guests streamed into Sacai's large, colorful cube-shaped seating area, the last of the models arrived in a rush from the previous show, Stella McCartney, driven right up to the stage door. Fifty minutes later, the show began with a black and white optical illusion with moving stripes, which came to life as stripes, fringes and pleats.
 
Designer Chitose Abe wielded the scissors with joy and dexterity, cutting the bottoms of double-breasted dresses and maxi jackets. Hems on dinner jackets and sailors with gold buttons were cut into strips, which blended with the similar pleats and fringes of the large white shirts over which they were slipped. Without tops, these same blazers and pleated shirts became strapless dresses with frilly edges.

While the clothes were conscientiously slashed and reduced by a third, arms and legs were given volume through pagoda sleeves and trouser bottoms that flared into ruffles. Teddy jackets, safari jackets and anoraks were in turn decapitated. Without collar and shoulders, they were worn bustier-style.
 
The same treatment went for the lower part of the garment, which was reduced to an apron-like mini-skirt or a belt with two large side pockets, to be layered over a dress or trousers. Very practical to put your hands in, adding an air of natural nonchalance to the look. Everything fit together perfectly in this desirable collection made up of unique pieces that are easy to match with each other.

 

Rokh, SS23 - Pixel Formula


Rokh plays the same game as Sacai, from whom he seems to have borrowed more than one idea. Clothes are unhooked, unbuttoned, unzipped, untied or even unraveled, transforming for example skirts and long dresses, thus rid of their heavy draped edge, into micro-minimal outfits. Sometimes, the designer simulated tears, like the blue stripes that zigzagged across certain beige dresses.

Like Abe, Rok Hwang likes to start with wardrobe classics, particularly trench coats and suits, which he broke down to recompose into long, fluctuating silhouettes. A trench coat became a bolero jacket associated with a skirt made from an off-cut of the same camel fabric wrapped in a spiral around the sides. Layers of fabric with fine or wider pleats were mixed and layered in long asymmetrical skirts in canvas or vinyl.

The belts, punctured with metal eyelets, were wrapped twice, tightly around the waist, falling in a ribbon along the legs. The garments were open in the back with a central, vertical row of buttons. Details and construction are everywhere. Perhaps a little too much, drowning out the purpose.
 
Lanvin, on the other hand, was much more minimalist with sober coats, shorts and suits, impeccably cut in a neutral palette. Creative director Bruno Sialelli gradually introduced sophisticated details into these simple looks, such as yellow embroidery or white buttons on a black coat or polka dots on leather or orange reptile skin coats.
 
Brocade fabrics and printed silks brightened up the ensemble in jackets and long skirts. Tulle dresses delicately caressed the body, while slender draped dresses were tinged with pastels.
 
Oriental music and tambourines gave rhythm to this aquatic fashion show, where the waves immersed the whole space, undulating on the walls and the sand-coloured carpet in changing reflections; the sea very present in the collection. The women dressed in fishing nets, sparkling tops and tunics. The nets were also used as bags, covered in crystals. Turquoise leotards with bonnets, like diving suits, were also worn, alongside long-haired mules that looked like flippers.

 

Germanier, SS23 - ph Dominique Muret


After a moderate collection, Germanier gave us extravagance, with a spring-summer 2023 collection that was particularly exuberant and vital with a super colorful, both very glamorous and ethical, festive fashion. The label's founder, Switzerland's Kevin Germanier, also wielded scissors to cut holes and slash white shirts, whose gaps were then decorated with glitter silicone. Elsewhere, he redrew the shapes on flesh-coloured tulle tunics, some parts of which were ultra-decorated with an accumulation of embellishments, while others were left bare.
 
This season, more than ever, the designer used everything and anything to hand to make his recycled fairy outfits: feathers, stones, large sequins, rhinestones, paper or fabric fringes, pearls. These different elements were arranged according to colors and shapes, in large garlands or volumes.
 
Decorations were entangled in fishnet dresses as though caught in a spider's web. Entire dresses were made of multicolored plastic necklaces. And light rainbow ostrich feathers made up a majestic capote with a large floating headdress to match, for a final, highly applauded look.

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