Paris Fashion Week: a look back at Women’s Fall/Winter 2023-2024 collections
Under the glass roof of La Samaritaine, Patou artistic director Guillaume Henry presented a collection entitled “Shopping Chronicles”. Carrying chic Caddie® shopping bags, bucket hats on their heads and shades perched on their noses, the silhouettes meandered with ready-to-roll fantasy. Laced-up thigh-boots designed in collaboration with Maison Ernest set off a wardrobe for women on the go in monochrome colorways of red, black, lavender, pink or burgundy. Shimmering puffers segue to velvet evening dresses, cozy knits are joined by denim, and high-cut smocks are worn over pencil or deep slit skirts. Patou bags are carried over the shoulder or in the hand, ready for every moment of the day amidst plays of materials and volumes. Pleated mini-skirts and crop tops reveal some skin, and hair bows underscore the feminine allure of the Patou muses.
For this season’s showcase in Milan, Artistic Director of FENDI Couture and Womenswear Kim Jones explores classicism and elegance through the lens of subtle subversion. Drawing inspiration from the wardrobe of jewelry designer Delfina Delettrez Fendi — the daughter of Silvia Venturini Fendi— the designer plays with binaries and gender archetypes in a deconstruction of ladylike sophistication.
Masculine tailoring is twisted into feminine forms throughout the collection, including boilersuits, aprons and uniforms. Lace is layered and flashes of fetishism appear through peeks of lingerie or thigh-high lace-up boots, while draped dresses are bias-cut. In a punk perspective, knitwear appears cleanly slashed or gently warped for a nonchalant silhouette. The wardrobe includes satin dresses romantically trailed by billowing scarves. The Italian house also introduced the new FENDI Multi bag, an homage to the multipurpose sensibility innate to Fendi.
