Stunning Drive-In Runway, a Major Debut and Landmark Collections Make Paris Fashion Week Rock

Even during pandemic times, Paris Fashion Week proved that when it comes to fashion, nobody does it better than the French. While major designers in other fashion cities cancelled or delayed showings of their latest collections, in Paris just about all the players except for Saint LaurentParis stuck to their regular schedule and worked overtime to present their new collections in unique and personal ways at landmarks around the City of Lights.

Even so, Paris Fashion Week was nearly all digital, like counterparts in New York, London and Milan, although a number of major designers created lavish runway shows — only without a live audience. But one bold Paris-based design duo staged a runway show with people attending — and it was a doozie.

Determined to create a socially distant fashion show with the emphasis on fun, Coperni co-founders Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant chose the mammoth AccorHotels Arena, where Beyoncé and other stars performed in pre-COVID times, for a drive-in runway show. Seventy masked guests were picked up in electric cars and driven to the arena, where the cars were positioned on a makeshift runway, their headlights illuminating models in the fall collection.

The youthful designers emphasized attention-getting party clothes like trousers with skirt-like pockets, slinky colorblock zipper dresses worn with rhinestone-studded thigh high boots, slouchy tuxedos suits and oversized faux fur robe coats. The closing look, a glittery see-thru shift, paid homage to a similar dress worn by Kate Moss in 1993.

At Balmain, creative director Olivier Rousteing commandeered a mammoth Air France hangar at Charles de Gaulle Airport to film a runway show based on fantasy travel and flight. The new collection offers an imaginative interpretation of the uniforms of early pilots and astronauts, with parachute dresses, Army green flight suits, lace-up boots, bomber jackets and metallic jumpsuits — one embellished with 68,000 upcycled Swarovski crystals.

Rousteing continued the high-flying theme with soft and structured carry-on bags of varying sizes, aviator sunglasses, neck-pillow earrings and handbags, paper-plane suitcase charms, and compass pendants.

Chanel Keeps It Nightclub Cool

Chanel usually stages over-the-top runway shows with costly sets at the mammoth Grand Palais. But this go-around, creative director Virginie Viard chose the small Parisian night club Chez Castel to showcase the fabled fashion house’s more intimate collection of update 1970s-style winter wear  — quilted jackets, puffer coats, crocheted skirts, furry vests, and ski pants worn with cropped jackets — and apres-ski party frocks like sequined minidresses under faux fur coats, and a metallic gold trenchcoat.

But what really stands out in the more-casual-than-usual collection are quilted coveralls emblazoned with Chanel name and shaggy double-layered Moon Boots, with a shearling exterior that can be slipped off to reveal a sleek boot underneath. Beanies with the interlocking C logo are nifty, too.

The spectacular Michelangelo Gallery in the Louvre was the scene for the Louis Vuitton collection, which closed Paris Fashion Week. Creative director Nicolas Ghesquière used the setting, which features priceless Greek, Roman and Etruscan statues, to explore how femininity is explored in ancient mythology.

Models in a mishmash of styles — tulle skirts with oversized sweaters and puffy coats or leather pants and two-tone capes — walked amid the precious museum treasures carrying handbags stamped with Fornasetti images of antiquity and the week’s most interesting footwear. Among the coveted looks are gladiator boots adorned with bows and an unzipped knee-high boot with a wedge heel.

Christian Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri snagged an equally exclusive and arguably the most opulent setting to debut her new collection. She filmed it in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, outside of Paris, and titled it “Disturbing Beauty.”

Chiuri explored the world of fairy tales from a feminist perspective with prim pinafore dresses worn with knee-high lace-up boots, crocheted tops and denim jeans, dramatic hooded jackets, military coats, and tiered tulle gowns.

Keeping It International

Not deterred by the pandemic or the inability of most people to travel, Hermès  livestreamed three back-to-back events in three international cities, with a runway show at the Garde Républicaine in Paris bookended by dance performances in New York and Shanghai. While the performances were contemporary, there is nothing about faddish about the collection from creative director Nadège Vanhée-Cybulski.

It features well tailored, not too daring, looks that the Hermès customer feels comfortable wearing, although this time Vanhée-Cybulski mixed in such new items as denim pantsuits and fringe leather tunics amid the print day dresses, embroidered jackets, pleated skirts and matching sweaters.

Andrew Gn came home for his new collection, staging a video in his glorious 18th-century Paris apartment, which inspires him and is reflected in his design aesthetic. With enormous crystal chandeliers, gilded Louis XV furniture and a vast collection of chinoiserie vases, the surroundings set the tone for his lush creations.

Gn designs clothing that is every bit as exotic as his surroundings. Heavily embellished dresses, bolero jackets, and coats, with matching crystal-studded knee-high boots, are a hallmark of the collection, along with dresses in luxurious jacquard fabrics, with pearls lining the hemline or neckline, adorning a belt buckle, or as shoulder duster earrings.

Gn also simplifies things, by his standards, with pleated metallic minidresses and suits in a bold red shade. But even these otherwise more toned-done looks really stand out with padded pointy pagoda shoulders and matching knee-high boots.

Gender-bending designer Thom Browne added some star power to Paris Fashion Week with a video for his fall collection featuring Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn gliding down a snow-covered field in a gold quilted down dress draped over a man’s tuxedo.

“It was stunning, so intricate and beautifully done,” Vonn told British Vogue about the gown. “Although it did weigh about 20 pounds — it definitely kept me warm.”

Gabriel Hearst’s Big Throwback Debut

In the most anticipated debut of Paris Fashion Week, Gabriel Hearst’s first collection for Chloé paid homage to the 70-year-old French fashion house’s heritage while focusing on the 21st century notion of sustainability. Hearst, who received praise for creating the embroidered white dress and coat that Dr. Jill Biden wore on the night of her husband’s inauguration, showcased patchwork leather coats, striped ponchos of recycled cashmere, long striped sweater dresses, and a cross between a poncho and a puffer coat, dubbed a “puffcho,” made of assorted fabrics and prints.

The 30-piece collection was featured in a video shot in the empty streets of Paris, outside the legendary Left Bank restaurant Brasserie Lipp, where Chloé founder Gaby Aghion debuted her earliest designs. But this new collection emphasized sustainability, featuring easy-on-the-environment natural and recycled fabrics and 50 vintage handbags purchased from eBay that were remade with leftover fabric remnants from the Chloé studio.

“New isn’t always better,” Hearst said in a statement.