From Sunday the 5th to Thursday the 9th it’s the Paris Fashion week. Designers of the entire world introduce their Autumn / Winter 2015-2016 Haute Couture collections.
Paris was the first city where a fashion week occurred. It has known an international development over the years, and now Milano, London and New-York have joined Paris and composed the Grand Chelem of fashion. Even though every fashion weeks have their importance and their influence in the world of Haute Couture, and by extension in the prêt-à-porter, Paris is THE place to go. Indeed, whether you are a designer, a photographer, a model, a fashion journalist, a blogger and so on you will always find inspiration. La Ville Lumière as it’s called is the capital the most visited in the world. French people are known for their refinement, and especially Les Parisiennes and their inner elegance.
Gabrielle Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent, Christian Dior, Jeanne Lanvin… These names have crossed the years, and they are more than names. Indeed, behind those names are people, not just the designers but also the couturières, and all the artisans who work every day trying to pass their savoir-faire. I think for exemple about people who draw patterns on Hermès carrés de soie, or people whom create Louis Vuitton bags. Silk and leather, inter alia, require a certain technique of work, an experience, and it’s this savoir-faire, this talent and the rarity of people able to achieve such things that make those creations so exceptional.
Of course at the origins of a new collection there are the designers. They find inspiration every where, and their collections represent who they are, the way they see the world, the society and they try to pass everything through fashion.
To me, fashion is not just about wearing clothes, it’s about express yourself and feel confident. It also has a political, at least a societal side. For exemple, it’s thanks to Coco Chanel that women have started to wear pants. With her it’s the emancipation of women which has started. In a sexist society she empowered women by giving them the possibility to wear whatever they wanted, even masculine clothes.
YSL also gave this androgyne side in his collections. Women were not only wearing pants, they were wearing smoking jackets withouts bras, tuxedos, and even ties. YSL managed to show the ambiguity of genders, and for me, by making smoking for women, he has spread the idea of sex equalities, and everything that makes equality move forward is a good thing.
I also think that it’s important to talk about the fact that black people were hide as models. Before those big names of fashion it was rare to see colored people on the catwalk or in fashion magazines. Thanks to great artists who decided to show human kind in all it’s faces, society was able to evolve.
Loving fashion doesn’t mean being superficial. Caring about our appearance is normal to me, liking our reflection in the mirror is very important. We living our whole life with our own self, it’s crucial to like who we are, no matter what people think.
A collection can be inspired by a landscape, a painting, a memory, porcelaine… Fashion is a window on the world, on the past, present and future. Fashion doesn’t know temporality, it never fades away : style is eternal. Indeed, it’s made upon the world, the human kind, and as long as we exist there will always be something to create.
I also believe that it’s important to appropriate a collection. In the prêt-à-porter industry, the same piece is made 637829 times, but each one of us will wear it differently. No one must try to copy someone else, and fashion allows you to find your own style.
Fashion really helped me to love myself. I was a very shy girl, and I turned into a confident woman, and God it feels so good to finally be OK with who I am ! If you think you are too short you can wear heels, too skinny, too fat, too tall… There always is a trick to change your appearance and look more the way you want to.
For all those reasons, and a lot more, fashion is one of the most important thing in my life. I have watched plenty shows since Sunday, and I will keep doing it until the end of the Fashion Week, and when it will end I will eagerly be waiting for the next one.
Chronicles of Ada 