This is our unfiltered review of the first ever digital Paris Fashion Week. Here, stay up to date on all the top spring 2021 Paris Fashion Week shows.
For the first time in history, Paris Fashion week is going digital with the Spring 2021 shows. In summer 2020, we saw the first ever Paris couture shows go digital. Now, we get to see how the ready-to-wear designers are doing things.
It’s not surprising: due to the pandemic, fashion weeks worldwide are being cancelled and postponed. In lieu of live runway shows, brands are putting together digital content (mainly videos) to showcase their latest collections. As such, the majority of the Spring 2021 Paris Fashion Week collections are being presented as digital-only activations, except for a few brand such as Chanel, Coperni, Dior and a few others who are reportedly hosting in-person shows with limited audiences (and, of course, a digital component).
At Couture Week, we saw everything from 3D virtual models to advertorial-like videos that felt like commercials. Given that Paris Fashion Week is always the pinnacle of fashion month, with many of the top designers presenting as well as a host of the most in-demand emerging brands, it’ll be interesting to see how designers approach the new world of fashion shows during a pandemic.
I’m interested to see how labels can take these elements of the digital world and go forward with fashion week in a new and innovative way. For now, I don’t think doing strictly video is the right move. Come back daily to read our highlights from each day of Paris Fashion Week Spring 2021.
Read about day 2 highlights here. Here, some mini reviews of the standout shows of the Spring 2021 Paris Fashion Week Day 7.
Paris Fashion Week Spring 2021 Review: Givenchy Spring 2021
It’s a new era for Givenchy. Matthew M. Williams has taken over as creative director. And while some were upset that Clare Waight Keller left the brand, Givenchy is currently being revived as a much more urban, downtown brand. Sure, couture-like dresses with feathers and sequins are beautiful, but can we acknowledge the fact that the client for those kinds of clothes no longer exists, especially during a pandemic?
I’ll be the first to admit, I wasn’t an immediate fan of the brand image when Williams took over. Coupled with his announcement, the brand posted photos of him shirtless in the atelier; the only one not wearing a face mask. A few days before the show, Givenchy also posted a flat chested, extremely thin woman with a belt around her nipples. Both of those are disgusting, intrinsic acts of anti-feminism that are so disconcerting, I really wanted to dislike the new Givenchy. However, within the collection Williams showed he was able to transform the brand, especially in the accessories area – pierced embellished shoes, three-toe sandals, triangular bags. A lot of it was the styling (it felt cool on a Balenciaga level), courtesy of Lotta Volkova’s styling. It’s sad that we live in a world where women designers are given so little chances to head up major fashion houses. Sure, Waight Keller may not have been right but surely Givenchy could have chosen another woman to succeed her?
Paris Fashion Week Spring 2021 Review: Schiaparelli Spring 2021
Some may call Schiaparelli artistic director Daniel Roseberry a true artist. His deft approach to looking at surrealist concepts and house codes from the original Elsa Schiaparelli is unmatched. Clearly, he has also carved out a strong niche of being the designer of the moment to look to for eclectic jewelry.
Sure, the clothing was incredible with all the trompe l’oeil moments (chalk that up to the designer’s time spent at Thom Browne) but we can’t take our eyes off the eye-shaped glasses, nose-shaped earrings and golden fingernails. Each season, the jewelry gets better and better. It’s a real shame it’s not sold widely. Surreal jewelry for surreal times.
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