Women’s Fashion Weeks Spring-Summer 2021: from Milan to Paris, the show goes on
Fashion & Leather Goods
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© Louis Vuitton
Despite the global pandemic and the challenge for the fashion industry of cohabiting with it, the show goes on. From Milan to Paris, as they unveiled their Spring-Summer 2021 women’s collections, LVMH group Maisons demonstrated their signature creativity and excellence in organizing runway shows that were innovative both in format and transmission, and always conformed to the strictest health and safety guidelines.
Louis Vuitton explores identity
Amid the Art Nouveau frescos on the top floor of the newly renovated La Samaritaine, the Louis Vuitton Spring-Summer 2021 fashion show explored a wardrobe that transcends gender. Nicolas Ghesquière, Louis Vuitton Creative Director for Women’s Collections, set out to imagine what an in-between garment might look like, asking what kind of cut could dissolve masculine and feminine? The looks showcased ample volumes and loose-fitting waists for pieces with boundless versatility. The collection begins a fascinating new exploration for fashion, “the promise of a great journey that Louis Vuitton is setting out to discover, finding expression in a landscape that is tenuous and vast, but also neutral.”
Stella McCartney: the body in motion
Conceived during the lockdown, the Stella McCartney Spring-Summer 2021 Women’s collection questions why we do things and launches a conversation about who we are. The Creative Director of the eponymous Maison reconnects with its core values centered on environmental responsibility, repurposing fabrics to minimize waste and using 65% sustainable materials. Instinctual, experimental silhouettes contrast sportiness against historical cuts, energizing a new love for the body and a desire to uplift spirits alongside the brand’s purpose of creating a sustainable fashion industry. Pieces in graphic neutrals and classic tones are joined by a palette exploring soft shades of rosy pink, khaki, peach, tangerine orange, sky blue and bamboo, all energized by bursts of bubble gum and flame red.
Givenchy debut for Matthew M. Williams
The Givenchy Spring-Summer 2021 collection marks the debut of a new era with the arrival of Matthew M. Williams as Creative Director of the Maison. A feeling of elegance, playfulness and pragmatism is key to his vision as he celebrates the people who led him to where he is, and those he wants to wear his clothes. This enthusiasm is palpable in the images that reveal the collection in a photographic study by Matthew M. Williams together with artist Heji Shin, getting to the heart of who a person is as much as the clothes they wear.
“You find the pieces of the puzzle for a collection, building it from symbols and signs, but never forgetting the reality of the person who will wear it and bring it to life. The women and men should be powerful and effortless, equal and joyful, a reflection of who they really are – only more so. It’s about finding the humanity in luxury,” said Matthew M. Williams.
Loewe: wallpaper show
After its memorable “Show-in-a-Box” created for Men’s Fashion Week last July, Loewe continues the metaphor with a new concept for its Spring-Summer 2021 women’s collection: “Show-on-the-Wall”. Loewe Creative Director Jonathan Anderson presents his latest looks with an exhibition of photos pasted on wallpaper. Loewe expands and enriches the personal experience of creating and discovering the collection with an agenda of online content that explains the concept, featuring input from the artists involved
Patou: dream in color
This season Patou once again invited the public via digital channels to its offices and workshop on the banks of the Seine on the Ile de la Cité in Paris to unveil the latest creations by Creative Director Guillaume Henry. Faithful to the Maison’s DNA, the show burst with imagination and mischievous playfulness, with balloon sleeves, beaded capes, feathered skirts, metallic satin fabrics and bold bijoux. Patou celebrates the art of dressing up with joyful elegance à la française.
Kenzo: an ode to bees, sentinels of the world
Echoing the current sense of fragility and essential distancing, the silhouettes in the Kenzo Spring-Summer 2021 show draw on the loose-fitting protective wear of beekeepers. Kenzo Creative Director Felipe Oliveira Baptista conceived the collection as an evocation of the myriad questions and mixed feelings about the present and future he has experienced since the outbreak of the pandemic. Prints with poppies and hortensias from the Kenzo archives adopt iridescent tears, a celebration of life both joyful and melancholy.
Dior: back to the cut
For Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director of Dior women’s collections, each collection entails a reflection on transformations in society or a reaction to current events. For the Spring-Summer 2021 collection, she transforms the Dior silhouette to better emphasize a fundamental step in the process of creating a garment – cutting. Thoughts translate into cuts. Shapes are redefined to spark sensations and infuse them with a different way of living. The structure of the Bar jacket, for example, is transformed in a reinterpretation of silhouettes from a Dior 1957 Fall-Winter collection created for Japan. The men’s shirt is reinvented as well, becoming a tunic or a dress, echoing Dior’s emblematic shirtdress, paired with wide, striped trousers or shorts. The shirt is also worn under ample coats in heathered fabrics. Patchworks of scarves with paisley and floral motifs are embellished with pieces of lace for a romantic collage effect to accessorize a series of dresses and trousers, opening infinite horizons for the imagination.
Fendi: reflections in Milan
On 23 September, Fendi was the first Maison to organize a physical show during Milan Fashion Week, unveiling both its Women’s and Men’s collections for Spring-Summer 2021. In the intimate ambiance of its Milan showroom, with members of the very small audience seated a meter apart, the Rome-based Maison revealed Silvia Venturini Fendi’s latest designs in an airy, paired-down scenography. The audience – in person or online – watched as, between light curtains billowing in a gentle breeze, looks for both men and women played on a subtle palette of white, beige, black and pastel tones, highlighted with sky blue and cardinal red. For Silvia Venturini Fendi, the collection conjured a patchwork of memories of time spent quietly at home with family. Thus, the shadow cast by a window when one is inside looking out was printed on garments in a game of transparency and texture. For accessories, meanwhile, the “hand-in-hand” Baguette project celebrated the collaboration between Silvia Venturini Fendi and artisans from the Abruzzo and Marche regions, famous for their mastery of intricate, traditional techniques with lace and wickerwork.
Bvlgari: authenticity, love and harmony
Bvlgari’s leather goods and accessories collection for Spring-Summer 2021 springs from a fabulous creative universe where the impossible becomes possible. Dubbed Arkadia21, this world is inspired by three moods – authenticity, love and harmony. They elevate the glamour of the iconic Serpenti motif to unexplored territories with the Serpenti Multichain Bag, the Serpenti Maxi Chain and a stunning selection of small leather goods and eyewear.