1. Hussein Chalayan’s Dissolving Coats
Hussein Chalayan has always been a master of innovation — and this season was no exception. As the audience entered his show, two models in white lab-like paper coats stood stoically in the middle of the runway. Midshow, a shower of water rained down and dissolved the coats — revealing beautiful crystal dresses. Magic on the runway!
2. Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic
Plastic popped up everywhere in Paris. At Margiela, cellophane came wrapped on sweaters and models’ legs; at Loewe, held in the Unesco building, towers and concrete stools were wrapped in plastic. And it tied into the collection: The opening look featured transparent pants.
3. The Row Came to Paris
This season, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen took their collection to Paris instead of New York. They gave editors a chance to see the collection at the Row’s beautiful showroom in the Marais — but the real treat was the show itself, which was presented only to private clients (no press allowed!) at a chateau outside the city.
4. Vetements’ Designer Got a Big New Appointment
The chatter at shows this week was dominated by one thing and one thing only: Who would be the new artistic director at Balenciaga. When the brand Vetements showed its second collection in a large, brightly lit Chinese restaurant earlier this week, it was clear that its creative director Demna Gvasalia was a strong contender for the job. The rumors were put to rest when Balenciaga announced that indeed Gvasalia would take over at Balenciaga — and now, surely, everyone will try extra hard to get their hands on the Vetements spring/summer 2016 collection.
5. Rick Owens Defied Gravity
Rick Owens is always one of the must-attend shows of the week. This season, the designer recruited local gymnasts to make an appearance, and sent them down the runway fastened together with straps. “I was hesitant about showing women under strain, but we show women as sugared dolls enough,” Owens told T. “Women can also be athletes that go to another physical level to achieve an aesthetic ideal. And these women did that with a powerful serenity, which is something we can all hope for in ourselves.”
6. Courrèges Came Back to Life
This week marked the revival of the iconic 1960s brand Courrèges at the hands of the talented young designers Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant. When the show began, much to the audience’s surpise, the designers came out with microphones and introduced the collection personally. It was an intimate and unexpected move and — coupled with a strong collection — certainly made their future seem bright.
7. French Vogue Celebrated Its Big 95th
Happy birthday French Vogue! Who would have thought at 95 a girl could throw a party like this? And what a night it was: Designers and editors flocked to a private mansion to celebrate the magazine — for a night that felt like it was straight out of Studio 54.
8. Chanel Took a Trip to the Airport
The Grand Palais was transformed into what seemed like a terminal at Charles de Gaulle — for Chanel Airlines. With airport desks and signs listing flight destinations, models decended in layered, laid-back plane looks and quilted wheelie bags. Airport culture made its way into the collection, too, with lit-up chunky sandals that glowed like an airport runway and clutch bags in the shape of neck pillows.
9. Olympia Le Tan Honored Tokyo and The Hotel Okura
For her spring/summer 2016 show, the designer Olympia Le Tan offered up an homage to Tokyo and her favorite hotel: the soon-to-be-demolished Hotel Okura. It was a playful — but moving — tribute to the city and the classic building.
10. Céline’s Perfect Beauty
The red lip seems to be the beauty takeaway from spring/summer 2016 — but no one perfected it quite like Phoebe Philo. The beauty look at Céline evoked the ’80s icon Sade: slicked-back hair in a braid, a simple matte complexion, cherry-red lips and hoop earrings. In all, a perfect complement to the collection.