All The Best Highlights From Paris Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024
The shows celebrated collaborations between legendary historic fashion houses that have guided stylistic tastes for decades
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Opulence and glamor have no home more fitting than Paris. The city sizzled even with the drizzle—nothing could possibly dampen the excitement that surrounded Haute Couture Week Spring/Summer 2024. Couture symbolizes everything that French style stands for—avant-garde silhouettes, larger-than-life runway sets, and star-studded front rows.
In addition, it also celebrated collaborations between legendary historic fashion houses that have guided stylistic tastes for decades and the more contemporary, fresh voices of artists that truthfully represent what consumers want to wear today.
Parisian couture house Schiaparelli heralded the four-day extravaganza, scheduled from January 22–25. The S/S 2023 collection saw hefty replicas of animal heads used as accessories and again, creative director Daniel Roseberry’s vision did not disappoint.
“[It is] a series of profiles both familiar and not—part human, part something else,” Roseberry said. “And, therefore, totally Schiaparelli.” Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, and Jennifer Lopez witnessed the debut of the designer’s adaptation of the sci-fi trope, which included a gleaming robot baby, carried by model Maggie Maurer. A dress seemingly made entirely of glittering tech waste, old calculators, and discarded wires also left an indelible mark on the ongoing outer space trend phenomenon.
Indian designer Rahul Mishra, who made waves globally in 2023 for the dazzling midnight blue sari Zendaya wore at the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, describes his clothes as “made in India, for the world.” His first look titled “Dragonfly in a Petri dish” drew attention to the nuances of sharing life with species of reptiles and insects that share the environment with us. The giant dragonfly motif placed on a circular pattern of fabric carried by the models was symbolic of a petri dish and was a recurring theme for the show.
The breathtaking show space of the Dior show consisted of installations by artist Isabella Ducrot, titled Big Aura. The backdrop for the runway involved 23 dresses, five meters high. The fabrics were materials collected by the artist throughout her lifetime—fragments of her travels—that were embroidered on large panels for the occasion by the Chanakya School of Craft.
The clothes themselves, designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, took inspiration from Christian Dior’s Autumn/Winter 1952 collection. The “La Cigale” dress was an important influence with its definitive Dior silhouette — narrow at the waist and protruding at the hip to shape the outline.
The most truthful take on current trends was Jean Paul Gaultier’s take on coquette fashion. With sweet bows, tulle, and dainty girlie pearls, it is made for wearable fashion, thought up by designer Simone Rocha. Along with silky satin sailor hats and corsets covered in little bits of black lace, she paid tribute to the Gaultier archetype, turning Breton stripes into a T-shirt made entirely of ribbons.
