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Fall 2009 Paris Fashion Week

A Softer Side of Balenciaga for Fall 2009
Balenciaga

A Softer Side of Balenciaga for Fall 2009

>> Fall 2009 has turned out to be the season of new for Nicolas Ghesquiere and Balenciaga: new show location, new softness, new openness to models of color.  Instead of showing at the brand's headquarters on the Left Bank as usual, Ghesquiere took the show to Hotel Crillon, with its gold and cream atmosphere and the models walking through French doors.  The official blame for the move goes to neighbors around the HQ, who apparently didn't like the loud soundtrack, but some wondered if it wasn't prompted by Balmain's move to the Ritz this season — a little venue rivalry?
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A Softer Side of Balenciaga for Fall 2009

>> Fall 2009 has turned out to be the season of new for Nicolas Ghesquiere and Balenciaga: new show location, new softness, new openness to models of color.  Instead of showing at the brand's headquarters on the Left Bank as usual, Ghesquiere took the show to Hotel Crillon, with its gold and cream atmosphere and the models walking through French doors.  The official blame for the move goes to neighbors around the HQ, who apparently didn't like the loud soundtrack, but some wondered if it wasn't prompted by Balmain's move to the Ritz this season — a little venue rivalry?

Nonetheless, the typically whitewashed Balenciaga runway felt a little influx of models of color this season; Liya Kebede opened, and Chanel Iman walked, her first time for the label — last time a model of color walked, as far as I can tell, was Fall 2006 — Liya Kebede.  Newcomers Johanna Kneppers and twin Gwen Loos made their first runway appearances.  As for the clothes, Ghesquiere took away the recent robo-chic, instead experimenting with draping and satin — two techniques he admitted he'd never really worked with before.  The result is garnering '80s Yves Saint Laurent and Dynasty comparisons, and perhaps a little uncertainty, but there's definitely a future for the high-slit, splotchy-printed dresses — Francois-Henri Pinault thought so, he was there with new wife Salma Hayek in the front row.
*image: source, source

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Gareth Pugh's Fall 2009 Surprise: Video, Not Runway Presentation
Gareth Pugh

Gareth Pugh's Fall 2009 Surprise: Video, Not Runway Presentation

>> Gareth Pugh never fails to surprise with his runway shows, and for Fall 2009, he pulled the rug out from under editors by showing them an eight-minute video when they came expecting a runway show.  He's not the first — in recent seasons, Stefano Pilati, Viktor & Rolf, and the good people at Halston have all dabbled in the format — but using a video in place of a runway is polarizing, since it makes it harder to get a good look at the clothes.  Natasa Vojnovic marches, writhes, and dances to demonic music in the mostly black-and-white film — which features one striking scene with her birthing herself from a bronze pod jacket.  When interviewed on his choice, Gareth explained that he finds sending a girl walking up and down the catwalk "a little half-assed, for lack of a better word.  It's a well-trodden formula and I think it's time for a change."  And how appropriate that the first clear picture of the collection comes courtesy of Natasa, who walked away from the show in a Fall 2009 Pugh cape.
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>> Gareth Pugh never fails to surprise with his runway shows, and for Fall 2009, he pulled the rug out from under editors by showing them an eight-minute video when they came expecting a runway show.  He's not the first — in recent seasons, Stefano Pilati, Viktor & Rolf, and the good people at Halston have all dabbled in the format — but using a video in place of a runway is polarizing, since it makes it harder to get a good look at the clothes.  Natasa Vojnovic marches, writhes, and dances to demonic music in the mostly black-and-white film — which features one striking scene with her birthing herself from a bronze pod jacket.  When interviewed on his choice, Gareth explained that he finds sending a girl walking up and down the catwalk "a little half-assed, for lack of a better word.  It's a well-trodden formula and I think it's time for a change."  And how appropriate that the first clear picture of the collection comes courtesy of Natasa, who walked away from the show in a Fall 2009 Pugh cape.

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London, New York Designers Take Show to Paris in Hope of More Sales
Diane Von Furstenberg

London, New York Designers Take Show to Paris in Hope of More Sales

>> Budget cuts brought fewer European retailers to New York Fashion Week and fewer US retailers to London Fashion Week — Julie Gilhart of Barneys, for one — so instead, designers are meeting them at the one Fashion Week they all can't miss: Paris.Those from New York heading across the seas to meet with potential buyers and hopefully secure sales are Brian Reyes, Alexander Wang, and Victoria Bartlett of VPL, who are all sharing a space, plus Elise Overland, Jason Wu, Erin Fetherston, and Justin Giunta of Subversive Jewelry.  Diane von Furstenberg and Philip Crangi have already been spotted together at Tuileries, but The Ritz Paris is said to be the unofficial headquarters of retailer-designer-meet-and-greet activity.
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>> Budget cuts brought fewer European retailers to New York Fashion Week and fewer US retailers to London Fashion Week — Julie Gilhart of Barneys, for one — so instead, designers are meeting them at the one Fashion Week they all can't miss: Paris.

Those from New York heading across the seas to meet with potential buyers and hopefully secure sales are Brian Reyes, Alexander Wang, and Victoria Bartlett of VPL, who are all sharing a space, plus Elise Overland, Jason Wu, Erin Fetherston, and Justin Giunta of Subversive Jewelry.  Diane von Furstenberg and Philip Crangi have already been spotted together at Tuileries, but The Ritz Paris is said to be the unofficial headquarters of retailer-designer-meet-and-greet activity.

The British Fashion Council is also investing itself in a trip to Paris — starting Friday, designers such as House of Holland, Osman Yousefzada, Felder Felder and Louise Gray will reside at the JTM Gallery on Rue de Richelieu, where international fashion press and buyers will have a second chance to peruse the collections; the hope, of course, is to increase investment in London designers.
*image: source

Fall 2009 Paris Preview: Coveted Slots and Spots
Givenchy

Fall 2009 Paris Preview: Coveted Slots and Spots

In addition to Calvin Klein in New York, Prada in Milan, and Balenciaga in Paris, Givenchy has emerged as a fourth major-model-making platform due to the "increasing power of that show and campaign in giving new girls maximum visibility" [The Imagist] Thursday's Nina Ricci show "is almost universally agreed to be designer Olivier Theyskens's last collection" for the brand, and with the recent clash of his $15,000 gowns versus the label's commercial branding, will he give in and make retailers happy or go with his heart?
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  • In addition to Calvin Klein in New York, Prada in Milan, and Balenciaga in Paris, Givenchy has emerged as a fourth major-model-making platform due to the "increasing power of that show and campaign in giving new girls maximum visibility" [The Imagist]

  • Thursday's Nina Ricci show "is almost universally agreed to be designer Olivier Theyskens's last collection" for the brand, and with the recent clash of his $15,000 gowns versus the label's commercial branding, will he give in and make retailers happy or go with his heart? [FWD]

  • Hotly anticipated, Rose Cordero has only appeared at Burberry so far, but COACD seems to know something we don't . . . [COACD]

  • Rochas is relaunching with Marco Zanini in charge; An insider who attended a preview last week "showed much enthusiasm for the line" [FWD]

  • Is Balmain the new Balenciaga?  It's Balmania out there: Christophe Decarnin's Spring 2009 glitzy '80s moment permeated Fall 2009 collections from New York to Milan, and his $1,500 jeans are still flying off the shelves, even in this economy [FWD]

*image: source

Gareth Pugh

>> INSIDER WIRE — Just as Dolce & Gabbana streamed their D&G and Dolce & Gabbana shows live on the internet, Nick Knight's SHOWstudio promises that at 11 EST tomorrow, they'll be streaming Gareth Pugh's show live.  Also part of the deal?  An exclusive video interview with Gareth about the Fall 2009 collection, which hopefully will go up before the show .
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>> INSIDER WIRE — Just as Dolce & Gabbana streamed their D&G and Dolce & Gabbana shows live on the internet, Nick Knight's SHOWstudio promises that at 11 EST tomorrow, they'll be streaming Gareth Pugh's show live.  Also part of the deal?  An exclusive video interview with Gareth about the Fall 2009 collection, which hopefully will go up before the show . . . [SHOWStudio]

Marco Zanini

>> INSIDER WIRE —March 5 in Paris, Marco Zanini debuts 200 "soft and feminine" pieces for the new Rochas in his chosen format of presentation.  Management doesn't want the newly-rescuscitated label to be another buzz-generating, status brand like during Olivier Theysken's money-losing tenure, and pricing has been slashed by 30 percent since Theyskens’ days to be on par with Prada.  The Fall 2009 collection is divided among day, cocktail, and evening with plenty of slip-inspired garments; Unlike Theyskens, Zanini chose to go without any long dresses — he feels the short hem is more modern.
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>> INSIDER WIRE —March 5 in Paris, Marco Zanini debuts 200 "soft and feminine" pieces for the new Rochas in his chosen format of presentation.  Management doesn't want the newly-rescuscitated label to be another buzz-generating, status brand like during Olivier Theysken's money-losing tenure, and pricing has been slashed by 30 percent since Theyskens’ days to be on par with Prada.  The Fall 2009 collection is divided among day, cocktail, and evening with plenty of slip-inspired garments; Unlike Theyskens, Zanini chose to go without any long dresses — he feels the short hem is more modern. [WWD]

Marco Zanini In at Rochas
Marco Zanini

Marco Zanini In at Rochas

>> Confirming rumors, Marco Zanini has been named the man for the newly-resurrected house of Rochas.
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>> Confirming rumors, Marco Zanini has been named the man for the newly-resurrected house of Rochas. His first collection will show next March in Paris for the Fall 2009 season, with obvious hopes that he will last longer and achieve better critical reception than he did during his two-season stint at Halston, which he left in July.

Zanini put in nine years at Versace before he was tapped to rejevunate Halston in July 2007, making this new appointment his second brand restart in as many years.  Judging by the Versace education and the sleek, simplified look Zanini sent down the runway at Halston, the new Rochas may be quite different than Olivier Theysken's ethereal vision at Rochas when the brand was shuttered back in 2006.  But one thing's for sure — Zanini's Halston designs did well at retail, so there's hope that he can keep Rochas afloat.
*image: source