Balenciaga upturns luxury in Paris as McCartney puts on high-octane fashion with playful, eco twist

By Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press on September 30, 2024.

PARIS (AP) – On an ordinary Parisian market street on an ordinary rainy fall day, Stella McCartney’s high-octane show on Monday was anything but.

Guests gasped as the drizzle ceased, the clouds parted, and the sun emerged moments before the show – a heavenly metaphor, perhaps, for McCartney’s optimistic and nature-inspired display.

Meanwhile, inside the storied grounds of Les Invalides with its golden dome, Balenciaga’s guests had to present a golden ring – instead of an invitation – to enter the show. Snaking corridors led to a dark atrium with a lavish 100-meter polished, inlayed wooden billiard table. The front row, including U.S. Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, sat on ornate chairs around that table, creating an intimate and up-close experience.

Here are some highlights of spring-summer 2025 ready-to-wear shows in Paris, including Balenciaga:

Balenciaga proves creativity is the new luxury

The show opened with lingerie, accessorized with surreally pointed shoes and shades, setting an intimate tone against a backdrop of blues music. Interestingly, instead of undressing, the collection gradually added layers. A loose, ruched 70s dress at the front featured kinky strapping at the back, highlighting a key theme of the collection – dualities. This subtle play on contrasts, something Demna frequently toys with, emphasized the tension between the polished and the raw.

As the show progressed, jeans with constricting webbing almost held the legs together, adding a sense of constraint that played with notions of freedom and restriction. Truncated puffer jackets gave the looks an edgy, fashion-forward vibe, while moments of irreverence emerged through giant gold and metallic sneakers that looked almost clown-like, springing as the models walked. A cap, worn low and decorated with spikes resembling a wolf’s teeth, further amplified Balenciaga’s punk undercurrent.

Torn chap jeans that looked like they could have been customized from a thrift store made their appearance on the luxury runway – a striking commentary on Demna’s unwavering belief that true luxury isn’t about opulence or exclusivity, but about reimagining the ordinary. The contrast was clear: Mundane items, such as a men’s striped T-shirt, were juxtaposed with dazzling diamond earrings. It was Demna’s anti-luxury, bottom-up approach in full force, dismantling the traditional top-down view of high fashion and asserting that authenticity, ingenuity, and subversion are the new symbols of luxury.

There were also moments of unexpected poetry – a black leather coat, loosely tied around the waist, exposing the model’s naked shoulders. These pieces went beyond garments; they were statements on vulnerability and imperfection, two of Balenciaga’s core themes. The imperfect beauty, the spontaneous and seemingly haphazard creations, spoke to Demna’s love of the coexistence of perfection and imperfection.

The uber-cool, eclectic collection was cohesive only in its madness, unpredictability, and humor. It was an unabashed celebration of creativity as the ultimate luxury – a bold reminder that, in a world overwhelmed by content, true originality is the rarest and most valuable commodity of all.

McCartney’s street fare

The designs were dazzling, fusing sparkle, wit, and sharp tailoring to capture a disco-ready sense of fun.

VIPs including Natalie Portman, Greta Gerwig, and Paris Jackson couldn’t resist tapping their feet amid the most infectious soundtrack of Paris Fashion Week thus far. Models strutted with clever hairstyles swaying theatrically, reminiscent of Gerwig’s own film, Barbie, adding another playful element to the spectacle.

Savile Row tailoring was reimagined in true Stella style – strong-shouldered jackets paired with slimline blazers and exaggerated belt loops, while voluminous trousers and cheeky boxer culottes kept things playful. This isn’t new territory for McCartney, who often reworks classic tailoring with an edge.

Pinstripe suits got a glamorous upgrade with clean satin lines and shimmering lead-free crystals, paired with cropped sporty jumpers – another of her signature juxtapositions of high fashion with an easygoing vibe.

Fluid draping was another runway star, from gravity-defying asymmetric silk gowns to vegan leather skirts folding over themselves. Cream bombers with wing-like cutouts and sheer dresses injected an ethereal flair.

Cloud-like creations were a showstopper.

“We had some of these clouds in the knitwear (made of) a yarn that’s made out of recycled plastic bottles, which is amazing,” McCartney said backstage.

Bird motifs took flight, literally and figuratively. Doves painted across silk and origami-inspired details were visual treats – harking back to McCartney’s years-long message to remember to protect nature.

“Stella Times” newspaper and Helen Mirren

McCartney’s show kicked off with Helen Mirren delivering a “˜Save What You Love’ manifesto – more a direct punch than a gentle plea. Inspired by Jonathan Franzen’s “˜The End of the End of the Earth,’ Mirren’s voice rang out, urging action before it’s too late. Birds, which are disappearing, were the symbol, a reminder of what’s at stake if we don’t get our act together.

Guests were also each given a newspaper made for the show humorously called the “Stella Times” that spelled out a tongue-in-cheek, yet serious, message about sustainability. McCartney’s advice to readers to spur on positive action: “Read! Because I don’t think people read anymore.” And “get a copy of our newspaper. I’ll give you all of the information you need to know. Be more conscious, be more curious, and find out the facts of fashion to be more the future of fashion.”

McCartney has long been ahead of the game regarding eco-conscious fashion. She was one of the first designers to champion sustainability, well before it was on anyone else’s radar. With fashion being one of the world’s biggest polluters, her 91% conscious materials and animal-free production were another sign that the designer is taking the message seriously.

Sacai’s raw construction and deconstruction

A giant wooden structure of a house – just raw beams on display – set the scene for Sacai. It wasn’t just a striking venue, rather it served as a metaphor for Chitose Abe’s ethos: deconstruction and reconstruction in the most unexpected of ways. Like Abe’s clothing, the exposed beams represented an unfinished, yet powerfully architectural take on form and structure.

An urban T-shirt dress was paired with a black leather jacket sporting a ruffled, leg-of-mutton arm, a detail more often reserved for historical gowns. It was the embodiment of Abe’s dualities: urban biker meets historical drama, masculine melds into the overtly feminine.

Throughout the collection, the clever fusion of seemingly incongruent parts was front and center. A crisp white shirt was fused with a dark pleated skirt, set just under the bust. It was all one garment, and this mash-up exemplified Abe’s inventive approach to pattern-making. Her concept of hybridization – combining garments so they look like one thing from the front and another from the back – is more than a gimmick. It’s Abe’s groundbreaking way of challenging the very fabric of what fashion can be.

Another look was simplicity at first glance: a white toggled hoodie. But in true Sacai fashion, the back featured a floor-length, floppy skirt insert, transforming what could have been mundane into something extraordinary.

Volume and silhouettes were in abundance as well, with flattened, boxy shapes taking center stage.

The modest pieces – like the long black skirt fused into a white shirt – were emblematic of her recent exploration in monochrome and shifting her dissected garments into elevated territory.

Isabel Marant Embraces crafty Amazonian spirit

Isabel Marant blended South American craftsmanship with the raw energy of an Amazonian warrior, her craft-heavy aesthetic on full display in a powerful celebration of femininity.

Marant has always been unafraid to explore new territories, and this season she ventured into the tribalist punk influences of the early 1980s, blending it seamlessly with her love craft.

The runway was ablaze with sunset hues: rust, mauve, pink, and purple rippled across tasseled skirts and knot-constructed dresses, evoking the warmth of a Latin dusk.

Heavy gold bangles adorned models’ wrists as they strode in braided and embroidered silk dresses. The weathered black-gray denim blousons and studded black leather shorts hinted at a rebellious streak.

This season marked another chapter in Marant’s evolution as she leaned even further into craftsmanship – embroidered leather, blanket-stitched suede, and intricate knotting that felt deeply personal.

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