Models walked onto elevated runways in stripper-high heels and, sometimes, Playboy Bunny-style ears. The crowd—friends, fans and a small number of reporters—hooted and hollered after each look as if the performance was not a fashion show, but a cabaret. Underneath the spectacle lies a collection of compelling fashion propositions, a great slip blouse, a ruched mini dress, a fun baby tee. This is the kind of show, late at night and by a smaller label, that not everyone is able to prioritize. But those who did attend have been raving about it since.
“It is remarkable that in Paris, the grand finale of fashion month, some of the most buzzed about shows are smaller independent talents,” says Chloe King, the fashion director at Saks and Neiman Marcus. These designers are subversive and exuberant, she says, but they’re also authentic. It’s what has brought them “a hyper-engaged following that continues to draw the industry in.”
There may be no better example than Rick Owens, a designer who has made freakdom his coat of arms, and who has managed to stay at the fringes, at least aesthetically, despite his brand becoming beloved by celebrities like Kim Kardashian.
