By Jemma Walker
It’s the last day of PFW, Fashion Month, Menswear and Couture for AW15. We give a sigh of relief (and a little sigh of sadness) as the most fashionable events of the year draw to a close. However, with two of the biggest fashion maisons - Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu - being saved for the last day, everything can still change at the last minute.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton welcomed spring/summer with a psychedelic collection that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Sci-Fi movie set. Indeed, AW15 warps us into the LV domes perched on the edge of a pyramid on the Bois de Boulogne. Very surreal. Already left speechless at the grand location and unusual seating arrangements, fashion editors, celebrities and style mavens were packed in, (literally) rubbing shoulders with the fash pack we’ve spent the last month mingling with.
The fall reveal is full of quirks, surprises and surrealist designs. Dresses adorned with wispy layers played to SS15’s Sci-Fi tune, teamed with this season's signature rubber-chained belt embellished with a mixture of dark and gold stones. But that’s where the space age ends and preparations for winter begin. Fur dominates the runway, large shaggy coats of all lengths swamping models svelte silhouettes and leaving much of what’s underneath to the imagination.
One young model who steals the limelight from the very beginning is Hin Lin Ly, with her soft pink tresses and shaggy white coat. Followed by unique trunk-style bags, neutral two pieces and a delicately detailed blue silk dress, every piece captures the Ghesquière spirit.
Make-up artist Pat McGrath perfected natural skin with a soft pink blush and single line of thick black eyeliner hugging the lower lid. Alongside long, loose locks the beauty routine is rather generic – apart from one game changer - Mullet-like-bangs. A daring choice by LV, but one that (to the surprise of everyone) actually works well and is sure to be the only way to style a fringe this fall.
Louis Vuitton, Images courtesy of Getty Images.^
Miu Miu
An unusual room decorated in a 60s-inspired pale yellow wallpaper, with yellow and tan stools lining the curved runway, Miuccia Prada gives us a generous hint to AW15’s theme before the lights went down.
As we sit anticipating the final show of Paris Fashion Week, there’s a long quiet pause and then suddenly the 60s-style designs start to flow, with brighter colours and bolder jewellery with every look. The whole collection marked a progression from Prada’s Nixon-Era show, full of lacquered checks and enameled animal prints. With eye-watering neon winter coats and tweed printed button-up jackets teamed with sunglasses fit for summer afternoons, you couldn’t help but be reminded of a young girl's playfully ironic transition into a Stepford housewife. A host of models adorned with overbearing earrings and statement necklaces that call out for the 'Me Generation' and, as you’d expect from Miu Miu, the jewellery and accessories were exceptional enough to demand a runway alone. The finale song, Talking Heads' Burning Down the House was rather fitting, as the standout AW15 collection made a glowering impression that will last through to winter.
Miu Miu, Images courtesy of GoRunway.^
Au revoir Paris. The last thing left to do is wish summer away so that we can wrap-up in Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu’s winter warmers.
