Right: US rapper Kanye West acknowledges the public following his Spring/Summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection show, in Paris. Image Credit: AFP
Kanye West may have more than a dozen Grammy awards to his name, but fear of the fashion world turned the rapper, singer and music producer extraordinaire into a nervous wreck on Saturday, as he debuted his new luxury clothing line.
He was right to worry: The fashion industry is notoriously catty and, even though West had been a front-row regular at fashion shows for years, it had greeted the news that he was planning to launch his own line with raised eyebrows, preemptively consigning him to the same category of celebrity designers as the likes of Lindsay Lohan and her leggings.
But West proved nay-sayers wrong with his slick collection of sexy, hard-edged looks that were hands-down better — in terms of design and construction — than much of what's been shown during the first five days of Paris' spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collections.
Attended by the creme de la creme of the fashion world and a sprinkling of celebrities, including Lohan herself, West's debut was THE event of Paris fashion week, and it stole the thunder from Saturday's other shows.
Kayne West
Given their more than healthy dose of scepticism about West's line, it was with slightly humbled wonder that those hand-picked to attend the late-night show greeted the sophisticated, highly designed looks on the catwalk.
Sure, West didn't reinvent the wheel: You could see the influence of established designers — many of shows he frequented over the years.
There was a bit of Balmain in the short, sex-drenched dresses and some Givenchy in the gothic, bondage-y leather jackets and skirts, for example.
But luxed-up streetwear elements, like hooded jackets made in a mosaic of crocodile skins, gave the collection a unique voice of its own.
The specifics of the project remained foggy: The extent of West's involvement in the actual design remained unclear, as did the identities and pedigrees of those on his design team. But West's emotional attachment to the brand was clear.
Speaking to reporters after the show, the seasoned performer kept repeating "I'm so scared, I'm so nervous.
"The biggest conversation I hope I can end tonight is the whole ‘celebrity designer' thing," he said once he'd managed to collect himself. "That's the biggest hurdle when you want to get amazing people to work for you."
Another challenge, he added, was figuring out who to work with.
The fashion industry is notoriously opaque and often inscrutable for outsiders, even ones as well connected as him.
Jean Paul Gaultier
Backstage was front-and-centre at the Gaultier show, where the models changed on-set and even the dressers took a lap on the catwalk.
The clothes measured up to the genial French designer's habitual brilliance and were the saving grace of the plodding, overheated exercise. The theme was tattoos, and Gaultier served up ravishing jackets, bustier dresses and trenchcoats in flesh-tone leather covered with old-school tattoos. Other Gaultier staples, like ultra wide-leg pants in liquid silk jersey and sailor striped tops, filled out the strong collection.
Two tattoo-covered non-models walked in the show, sparking the implausible but still uncomfortable thought that the garments had been made out of their skin. (They hadn't, but still.)
Instead of a soundtrack, the show was moderated, in the style of a classic couture presentation. The moderator — a moderately well-known actress — read off the name and a description of each outfit.
But between the gorgeous clothes, the girls changing on scaffolding at the top of the runway and a photographer shooting them in a makeshift studio on the catwalk, there was plenty to watch — even if the pace could have stood to be ratcheted up a notch or two.
Viktor & Rolf
It looked as if Viktor & Rolf had been playing with those sewing-made-easy kits that teach children how to stitch by threading bulky yarn through a constellation of little holes on cardboard.
The Dutch duo sent out pretty cocktail dresses and bourgeois skirt suits with oversized stitches at all the hemlines. Bulky red stitches dressed up the tiers of a multilayered pink evening gown and shimmering electric blue ones embellished the flippy skirt on black trench and an A-line cocktail number.
Filled with wearable pieces, the collection was quite tame by Viktor & Rolf standards: Regarded as experimental vanguards, the pair is known for playing with scale.
Still, the outrageous staging of Saturday's show more than made up for the lack of wackiness in the clothes themselves. The lights went up to reveal a hip Paris duet, Brigitte, perched some 20 meters in the air atop dresses with endless pleated skirts. As they belted out their signature number, Ma Benz, their skirts parted and the models emerged from underneath, like little children from beneath their grandma's dress.
Dubai At Paris Fashion Week
Want to meet some serious buyers from the Middle East, Malaysia and beyond? Head to trade shows happening around the prestigious Paris Fashion Week, says Dubai's designer-duo Meher Mirchandani and Riddhima Whabi. They are currently participating in Paris' Memy Mode show, a four-day exhibition that concludes today.
"This is our second season in Paris at a trade show and we found that there was a lot of interest from buyers from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Malaysia last year. If you are in the fashion industry, you need to be in Paris during the fashion week," said Mirchandani.
Last year, these Dubai Fashion Week regulars with their eponymous label nailed orders from Bahrain-based boutique Seventh Heaven and touched base with buyers — both local and international.
"The best bit about Paris Fashion Week is that it happens at a good time when buyers are placing orders for stores worldwide. Even buyers from Harvey Nichols in Saudi Arabia placed another order after seeing our collection at the trade show," she added.
