Paris Fashion Week 2018 Review- Fall Collections

Did you miss the Paris Fashion Week this year? From a 1968 protest reconstruction at Dior to an avenue of fallen leaves at Chanel, Selma picks her key highlights from Paris fashion week Fall 2018.

This season’s Fashion Weeks, including the Paris Fashion Week that took place in the French Capital between the 26th of February and the 6th of March 2018, were part of a turning point of the Fashion Industry creations and stagings, as they were influenced by the #MeToo movements and the highly mediatized campaigns for Women’s rights and gender equality. Indeed, the runways have noticeably been tainted by female empowerment, activism, cultural exploration and gender fluidity initiatives where designers exposed bold and highly elaborated looks in generally committed and time-exploring themed shows.

Vogue's Anna Wintour has in this matter pointed out that this season’s female empowerment spirit was not only present in the collections and designs themselves, generally characterized by both sharper and freer contours, but also and mostly in the representation of women across the head designers, which has been significantly enhanced; Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy or Natasha Ramsay-Levi for Chloé are the best examples.

Activism was also in the center of attention this year with brands announcing significant donations to associations, aiming to represent altruistic leaders in the industry. For instance, Gucci promised important donations to March For Our Lives, Balenciaga for the World Food Program and Burberry for LGBTQ+ charities.

Collections' highlights were many, from Balenciaga's first-time gender unified runway with both men and women walking in futuristic, urban and colorful outfits; Sacai's eclectic and unique compositions and fabrics associations; to Donatella Versace's hyper glam and exuberant collection tribute to her brother Gianni Versace.

Burberry's heartfelt, nostalgic and powerful LGBTQ celebratory time show also made a great impression, just as Oliver Rousteing’s Balmain RockStar-like collection with bold and highly elaborated sexy looks. On more neutral tones and styles, Loewe’s functional yet super-chic and original daywear and Paco Rabanne effortless elegance and style have been widely acclaimed.

However, the designer to create the biggest surprise was Gucci. With a hyper conceptual, hugely culturally influenced and satirical representation of our tech-dominated world, Gucci staged a processing of humans with no clear gender distinctions, some wearing replicates of their heads or fantastic animals in their hands, as a metaphor of nowadays identity construction through social medias.

Finally, we will have to greet Marine Serre’s debut runway. A LVMH prize winner last year, the newcomer has made a great impression before major fashion influences, including Vogue, with its hectic collection and show.

Among the best runway stages, we definitely will cheer Dior for their amazing, empowering and feminist 1968 protest reconstruction through beautiful rock collages of protest signs, feminist slogans, and fashion magazines recollections cutouts, including Hillary Clinton’s statement “Women Rights are Human Rights”.

Karl Lagerfeld also left his guests in awe with this season’s Chanel show taking place in Le Grand Palais, where an enchanting Autumn was staged under the luminous palace glass ceilings and cloudy Paris’ sky.

The Paris Fashion week was also an occasion for President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron to invite all industries' innovators for a celebrational dinner at the Élysée Palace. This initiative was considered a historical recognition of the industry, its creativity and success, and a symbolic declaration of Paris as a special Fashion capital.

Check the best looks of the Paris Fashion Week 2018:

BALENCIAGA