Madame Vionnet herself would have approved of the Spring/Summer 2016 collection presented in Paris: highbrow, pure, simple, and authentic, the looks that went down the runway revived a vision that transcends the eras. Their founder, deceased in 1975, was profoundly revolutionary and, like every revolution, took ancient times as a starting point to magnify her technique. Today it’s Hussein Chalayan, British stylist renowned for his futuristic, poetic, and genial approach to fashion, that’s joining the Vionnet creative team. Madeleine Vionnet established her reputation on biais cuts and draping fabrics that were just as novel as they were liberating; Hussein Chalayan’s conceptual and innovative mark now feels like a return to basics.
This romanticism is marvelously illustrated in the drapings, structure, and purity of the Demoiselle dress’ lines. Chalayan’s arrival makes a difference between a folding treated with much more subtlety in this dress fit for a goddess with a cut top, paired with extra-long pleated pants, the sign of a new nocturnal modernity. Vionnet still does draping as well as ever. Within a game of contrasts, this time between black and white, opaque fabrics and transparent tulle, the piece is revealed through perfectly executed cut-outs that bring it to the edge of glory.
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