Culture couture<

By Valérie Guédon Published

In the 20th century, Valentino and Givenchy marked the history of haute couture, respectively in red and black. It is now also in men's fashion that their designers shine, always with this taste for refinement.

"For a house like ours, couture is a culture," says Pierpaolo Piccioli, artistic director of Valentino . , backstage at her fall-winter 2020-21 show. It must infuse all collections and, for men, be transcribed through a certain sensitivity.” And what sensitivity! She is illustrated by the crystalline voice of the pop sensation of recent years, FKA Twig dressed in a magnificent lace dress embroidered with thousands of rhinestones (from the previous haute couture collection, of course). By the floral shots of the decor, signed by the duo of photographers Inez & Vinoodh, well known in the luxury industry for shooting the most beautiful advertising campaigns. And, above all, by this string of delicate boys, with a few flowers in their hair, in fluid suits warmed up with soft raincoats, military parkas or track jackets encrusted with refined armfuls.

Throughout this sophisticated and romantic wardrobe, over sleeveless Japanese sweaters, silk shirts and faded denim suits, are the sentimental words of Mélanie Matranga, a young 34-year-old French visual artist. “We must go beyond the stereotypes linked to virility, advocates the artistic director. There's a lot of talk these days about a return to the sartorial tradition, but I think you can be a sensitive man in a suit and sneakers. Streetwear is part of our life now. Just as the past is part of the present. I hate nostalgia, maybe because I'm Roman. The suit must be reinvented with a new attitude, with a few details, such as the lapel of a jacket designed to be worn up like a shirt.”

A hand-picked audience takes their place in the historic couture salons of Avenue George-V to attend the presentation of the Givenchy men's collection . A row of cubes covered with mirrors, an arch of baby's breath tinted with white and the light of a beautiful Parisian day reflecting on the Haussmann moldings. A tasteful decor that provides the perfect setting for this winter 2020-2021 collection infused with chic. The extra opulence. “I was very inspired by the exhibition 'Modern Maharaja, a patron of the 1930s', which has just ended at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris, explains Clare Waight Keller, the artistic director. In particular by the extraordinary figure of Yeshwant Rao Holkar II, Maharaja of Indore, avant-garde personality photographed by Man Ray and close to Eckart Muthesius.

In the 2020 version, these modern-day princes in dark, straight-cut suits, worn over colored latex tops and woolen corsets, echo the princesses of the Parisian fashion house's haute couture shows. A dialogue that the British designer had already started in these exceptional women's shows. “Yeshwant Rao's story is incredible. He met his wife in Los Angeles, settled in the Californian megalopolis then in Paris and, over the course of his travels, embraced Western culture without denying any of his Eastern heritage. Hence this extreme sophistication this season.” For the evening, tuxedo jackets, silk shirts and satin overcoats embroidered with a thousand arabesque sequins evoke this refined blend. Here and there, a small black leather jacket, a pair of glasses with iridescent lenses, an oversized parka lined with sheepskin, cowboy boots adorned with a metal plate prevent the whole thing from seeming too literal. Clare Waight Keller continues to make her mark on the male universe. With brio.

Rimbaudian JW Anderson

At the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation, masked plastic mannequins of Rimbaud's face took their places on the row of chairs at the JW Anderson show . The artist David Wojnarowicz had thus made up for the series of shots Arthur Rimbaud in New York at the end of the 1970s, inspiration of the creator. "I have long been fascinated by the dark but hopeful work of this American activist artist (died of AIDS in 1992, editor's note), specifies Jonathan Anderson at the end of the show. These images, very controversial at the time, made me wonder what it meant to be a poet then and what it means today. Indeed, from this bare-armed man, his torso molded in a voluminous pleated top on the hips, in cargo pants and Birkenstock sandals adorned with a golden chain, emanates an obvious romanticism. “I like this idea of ​​classicism. Rimbaud was incredibly elegant. The way David dressed also influenced me a lot. I wanted to explore a form of lyricism and make it underground.” Also artistic director of Loewe, Anderson definitely knows where he is going and, in line with his women's collections, which he is presenting in London, delivers a wardrobe pared down with too much experimentation, without losing the radical lines that made his hit.