Couture on the Go: The Fall 2024 Collections Are Sporty, Anti-Gravity, and Nostalgic
wdc tv news staff
Demna’s provocation had more to do with time. By closing his show with a piece of “ephemeral couture” made minutes before the show (and which “will come with three Balenciaga staffers for its assembly for the client who buys it,”) he suggested that the value of a couture creation is related to the hours of handwork that went into its making. (His layering technique also hewed close to the 2018 Vetements windows featuring piles of clothes.)
Plentitude took the form of pearls at Armani Privé, where they were applied with painstaking care, and often paired with pants that looked like molten metal. Mingling with the week’s more traditional prettiness were reminders that even the .001% can’t wholly avoid what is happening in the world. Protective shields were seen in various collections. There was a Cubist-like skewing of silhouettes at Viktor & Rolf and elsewhere as well as a feeling of clothes falling away from the body.
The dream of escape was present in the references to birds, which more broadly equate freedom with movement. This was built into clothes that torqued around the body or whose angular extensions seemed unsusceptible to gravity.
Gym Class
Tanks, track suits, leotards, and bathing suits swam upstream into couture collections.
What Lies Beneath
Designers move beyond naked dressing to the endoskeleton.
Off-Kilter
Garments that reveal their making or seem to cling tenuously to the body are evidence of designer’s interest in deconstruction.
Legs for Days
Pants looked easy, mobile, and modern.
Micro Management
The magic of couture is often made visible through beadwork and embroidery.
Flight Patterns
Fashion can be a way to escape (by wing or foot, or private plane) to another place or time.
Shield Gang
There is a protective aspect to some couture garments for fall.
Find Your Best Angle
The naked dress, seen from a sharp angle.
Bodacious Side Eye
The Cubists’ altered vision seems to have influenced designers.
Only Happy When It Rains…
…rains diamonds and rubies and pearls, that is.
Ghoul Oriented
Finally, there’s room for emo clients, and Evanescence fans, at couture.
Avoir du…chat?
Avor du chien is a french expression meaning to possess chic, but this season’s focus was on cats.
Transformations
This season included witty takes on the possibilities fashion offers for change.
Fleet of Foot
They’re built for speed and easy on the eyes.
Big-Impact Bridal
For your special day, a dress that speaks volumes.