Hello, Open Thread. Happy end of January. Greetings from Paris, where the couture shows just came to an end. It’s a strange experience, looking at the most luxurious of luxury clothes while so much trauma is happening in the world, but that’s the dissonance of fashion these days. And some of the emails I have received from readers in Minneapolis, and the comments on my Chanel review, suggest that all of those theories about beauty and fantasy offering a much needed antidote to the bleakness of the everyday are actually true. It hits home, especially in France. When I asked Antonin Tron, the new designer at Balmain, who will be making his debut at the ready-to-wear shows next month, how he was handling the tension, he pointed out that his new house was born in the rubble of World War II. Designing hope, he said, is part of fashion’s birthright. Indeed, there was more critical chatter about the presence of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos on the front rows of Dior and Schiaparelli (presumably shopping for Met Gala outfits, given that they are underwriting the event) than there was about the frivolity or indulgence of the shows themselves. Speaking of controversial guests: Also at Dior was the disgraced former designer John Galliano, attending his first show since his firing in 2011 after an antisemitic rant in a Paris bar. There are those who still feel his actions were unforgivable, but as a public declaration that LVMH, his former employer, is not among them, it doesn’t get much more definitive than this. Galliano was, after all, sitting across the aisle from the French first lady, Brigitte Macron, and the Arnault family. It makes me wonder if speculation about him regaining his signature brand, which LVMH still owns (though it is currently dormant), or perhaps returning to lead the house, may actually come to pass. The focus now seems to be on what he contributed to the industry, especially during his time at Dior, rather than how it all came crashing down. To that point: This week was also notable for the record-setting sale of Dior couture from the collection of Mouna Ayoub at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London. One dress, a hand-painted evening gown from Galliano’s famous, and famously controversial, spring 2000 “homeless” collection, sold for 637,500 euros (about $759,775). That’s an unprecedented number for any piece of Dior couture from any Dior designer, including Christian Dior himself. NUMBER OF THE WEEK
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Off the couture track, Jacquemus took advantage of the lighter schedule to hold its fall show at the Musée Picasso and further underscore the brand’s identity as the embodiment of a certain kind of cinematic Frenchiness. Simon Porte Jacquemus essentially mainlines the stereotypes embedded in everyone’s subconscious about Parisian and Côte d’Azur chic and then makes them consumable.
Think stripes, polka dots, statement umbrella hats and a plethora of fishtail skirt suits — as well as some tuxedo boxer shorts and extremely high-waist men’s trousers. The show even closed with a model wearing a one-shoulder, single-breast-baring little black dress, a champagne glass clutched to her exposed bosom, in direct homage to Helmut Newton’s 1973 portrait of Paloma Picasso.
For more about the couture week that was, check in here. Then catch up on Jacob Gallagher’s reports from the Paris men’s wear shows, consider fashion’s new and very fraught age of body reconstruction (one of the most thorny, complicated stories I have had the privilege to write) and get a load of Sydney Sweeney’s latest brand extension.
Finally, a shopping tip: Maria Cornejo, the independent and very independent-minded New York designer beloved of women like Cindy Sherman and Laura Linney, and who has had an atelier/showroom/shop on Bleecker Street for 17 years, is moving — and having an archive sale to go with. Check it out.
And get ready: The Grammys are Sunday night, and Jacob and I will be live-blogging the arrivals here. The music world is not nearly as … well, buttoned-up as Hollywood. This one is going to be fun.
Til then, have a good, safe weekend.
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ACCESSORY NEWS | ||
A Big Day for Thigh-High Boots on MenParis men’s fashion week comes to a close with Saint Laurent. By Jacob Gallagher | ||
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
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| The backlash to “wokeness” has swept up size inclusivity on the runway. Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times |
You are not misguided. Sitting at the recent couture shows, and then sifting through photos looking for runway images to go with show reviews, I had the same thought.
The numbers bear this out: During the last ready-to-wear season, according to the Vogue Business size inclusivity report, out of 9,038 looks in 198 women’s wear shows, 97.1 percent were shown on models who were between a U.S. size 0 to 4. Less than 1 percent of models qualified as plus size, or curve.
There was a moment when fashion seemed to be inching toward body positivity, in part because of public opinion. In 2020, Paloma Elsesser, an outspoken plus-size model, was on the cover of Vogue, and the next year she became a member of the VS Collective specifically to help Victoria’s Secret rethink its sizing and image. The concept of midsize models took off, and there was less tokenism of plus-size girls. But clearly that moment is over, for a variety of reasons.
The backlash to “wokeness” has swept up size inclusivity in its wake. Fashion, which is going backward in all sort of ways, including sustainability and gender equality, is likewise reverting to form on the runway. It is, after all, easier to default to the status quo than to pioneer change.
This is especially true for runway collections, since they are generally made up of sample garments, designed in a standard size. (It’s more efficient and cost-effective.) Varying the sizes on the catwalk requires changing the patterns, and that requires rethinking the system, which is complicated.
Besides, conventional industry wisdom holds that clothes look better on women shaped like hangers. Not the padded silk kind; the narrow wire kind.
Then there’s the fact that the GLP-1 revolution has altered the visual landscape. As formerly larger size people in the public eye shrink, so, too, do our perceptions. What qualifies as “skinny” becomes even skinnier — and more seemingly desirable.
Add all of that together, and the gravitational pull is toward an ever-shrinking human form, especially on the runway. It’s too bad. Not because skinniness is bad, but because it should not be the only option. People still come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Seeing the reality of life reflected on the runways, which have become a form of entertainment for everyone, is actually more appealing than seeing life reduced to one size that cannot fit all.
The reality of this hit home when, after decades of racism, fashion finally stopped tokenizing Black models and embraced a multitude of skin colors in runway collections rather than opting for a model cast that was 90 percent white. (Well, except for Dolce & Gabbana, which inexplicably used an all-white cast in its last men’s show.) The result was shows that look exponentially richer and more relevant than they once did because they are connected more clearly to the world in which the clothes they show are worn.
The takeaway should be the more diversity, the better. Not just in race but also in size and age and physical ability. It’s in everyone’s interests. Imagine seeing a runway that included not just sizes 0 and 16, but all those in between, including 6, 8 and 10.
And not just for women and women’s wear. During the recent men’s shows, the guys on the Prada catwalk were so slim-line that Hanan Besovic, the fashion commentator who posts under the hashtag @ideservecouture, announced on his Instagram reel: “I love Prada. But my only thought during this whole collection is how skinny these models are.”
“It was so difficult focusing on the clothes,” he went on.
There’s a lesson in there if fashion would care to learn it.
