Designers in Paris

Paris is an interesting case study in getting dressed. I tend to struggle with finding a balance that permits two levels of comfort — the physical kind to support long days mostly spent on foot and metro to move between shows, which are never thoughtfully located near each other, and the emotional kind, because outside of the shows faithfully and unflinchingly stand at least one mob of photographers, there by vocation to freeze you in a memory that will, no doubt, burgeon among the pages of the Internet and Instagram.

So you want — maybe need — to look cool, right? You want to look like the best version of yourself but you also can’t sacrifice the literal feeling of your toes inside your shoes because if you do, you will not make it. And the only thing worse than showing up to a show looking like you’ve just rolled around in hay is not showing up to a show at all because your feet gave up on your legs, or your skirt gave up on your waist line and there you are: dejected.

Dries Van Noten understands this. He consistently delivers exactly what the balance-strikers among us seek, eschewing pre-season collections in the name of a twice-yearly celebration of offbeat glamour punctuated by this relentless quest to keep a diverse and wide bracket of women in mind and rapture. For next fall, that largely means a khaki base, floral neck pieces, a number of backward apron skirts that read more like extravagantly quotidian tails and the offbeat, muted prints that have come to emblematize his democratic house-for-the-women.

Alessandro Dell’Acqua’s third take at Rochas, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, was set in shades of brown and green that graduated to orange and black and grey that become blue. The collection of tea-length skirts, dresses and coats highlighted the new designer’s understanding of the house’s identity. It made me wonder whether, when the time comes, another designer could successfully take over at Dries Van Noten when such an opinionated voice commands it now. That’s not to sublimate the dexterity of Dell’Acqua, who also designs No. 21, though. Embedded in his DNA is precisely what makes his presence at Rochas work: those whimsical details (embellished shoes, fur pockets, quiet-though-impressionable prints, lamé stitching) and silhouettes that command the sort of feminine allure (there stand not a single pair of pants on the runway) that auspiciously preach, with conspicuous undergarments and a stoic attitude, a kind of unorthodox power.

The first instance of this season’s episode of musical chairs revealed itself at Carven this morning with Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud, who have taken over from Guillaume Henry (now of Nina Ricci), and in their approximation of the youthful French house, A-line mini skirts and high waist pants reign definitively. The girls looked cool if not entirely transported from the decade that shall remain nameless but there was a level of ease tethered to this collection. It boasted — similarly to though entirely differently from Dries Van Noten — the kind of clothes that get you excited for no reason other than your wanting to wear them. And at its core, under the bells and whistles and exclusive enigmas, isn’t that exactly what fashion week is all about?

All Images via Style.com