It is that season once again. The streets of Paris transform into a rendez-vous that sets the global fashion industry’s pulse racing a little faster.  As designers unveil their newest collections in the City Of Love, the latter becomes a canvas for cutting-edge fashion and forward-thinking concepts
Today, we’re diving into the very distinct worlds of five different creatives as we dig deeper into the concepts behind their recent presentations. Tag along as we go through a journey of self-discovery with Chemena Kamali and Julien Dossena going back to their roots and re-imagining themselves respectively at Chloé and Rabanne. While Kamali’s expression of femininity, sensuality and freedom was the perfect start for her Chloé debut, Dossena was about style experimentation and reformulation. The Belgian Maison Delvaux was busy showcasing traditional and artisanal savoir-faire and Anna Christin Haas, creative director and co-founder of Galvan, was showcasing her inspirations taken from modern day conversation such as artificially generated art and dance.
Lastly, Cecilie Bahnsen was all about intriguing concepts of contrast, juxtaposition, and an expressed a desire for a dark feminine romance.

By Mark Khoury

Re-imagining feelings and redefining femininity at Chloé

Chemena Kamali marks a new beginning at Chloé. Having become creative director of the house after working there for 20 years, Chemena expresses a personal and emotional attachment to the label, completely redefining the Chloé woman. We witness a comeback to her own roots, the ones set by the original founder of the label Gaby Aghion in the 70’s. Sensuality, femininity, warmth and positivity, are messages that have always been perfectly conveyed since the launching of the house, but re-introduced by Chemena through her collection within the use of lace, ruffles, shiny leather in a multitude of colors (mostly earthy and darker tones). “Chloé lets you be yourself; it doesn’t transform you, follow your intuition” – Chemena.

Style experimentation and self-portrait at Rabanne

This season, Julien Dossena curates a collection full of layers for Rabanne. The newly rebranded Paco Rabanne takes their audience into the world of Julien, as they showcase grunge inspired looks, 1970’s graphics, vintage thrifty-looking silhouettes, all constructing a self portrait of the designer who presented a full collection with mixed-and-matched prints patterns and layers producing a harmonious textural rhythm such as bias plaids, fuzzy checks, flocked micromotifs, jacquard geometries, houndstooth mesh. The color palette chosen also did not lack originality, mixing a variety of hues with black and white such as powdery yellow, bitter almond, mauve, deep rust and vivid azure. With a major focus on outerwear serving as a playground for the layers beneath it, some of the most eye-catching pieces definitely were the heavy-gauge cardigan, the unbuttoned shirt and the slinky tank top. Overall, it is safe to say that Rabanne allows for experimentation while being highly desirable.

Galvan’s modern-day inspiration

Anna Christin Haas, who presents her first fall-winter 2024 collection “a fleeting thought” for the first time in Paris, draws direct inspiration from dance and AI generated art (and the artistic duo Hedda Roman), a topic that is undeniably discussed by everyone everywhere nowadays. The show began with a very artistic dance performance choreographed by Imre Van Opstal to music by Joep Bewing, starting the conversation on what it’s like being human in the context of the future of technology around us. Galvan questions humanity in times of global uncertainty. The color palette ranged from camel brown, to light and darker shades of blue and green, black, white and a dark maroon red. The use of sequined and shiny fabrics and organza was definitely prominent within the looks, with a special spot given to faux fur and velvet pieces.

 
Delvaux time travels to a time of savoir faire

Delvaux’s “Savoir and Savoir-Faire” takes the FW24/25 Delvaux collection to a whole “new” direction by making us travel to the past, specifically to the 19^th century and reminiscing on the extraordinary artisanal leather making in 1829. With the help of Sylvie Van Der Kelen, the Maison curated a selection of hand-crafted leather bags with trompe l’oeil handmade paintings, launching the dialog between legacy and design.

 
Cecilie Bahnsen creates a dark romance haven

For her FW24 collection Cecilie Bahnsen draws immense inspiration in contrasts for her collection entitled “The bite”. While the soft romantic Cecilie Bahnsen woman was never absent, she has evolved into a darker, more mature version of herself, allowing to show a wider range of emotion. This concept directly translated into the looks presented which were very much about the brand’s established silhouettes but made shorter and more voluminous. Flower appliqués, additional touches of leather, hard denim and thick knitted fabric fusion with the usually soft and flowy textiles. While the majority of the looks were black, white, or camel brown, a visible pop of indigo and navy blue were spotted throughout the collection. Cecilie says she wanted to “explore new directions this season, evolving the codes of the brand through meaning and care […] and embracing a darker side of romance.”