Callbacks, cliffbangers and redemption arcs! Designers are telling their stories and controlling the narrative with couture collections.
Couture is a deeply intimate conversation between designers and their audience. The message is conveyed through every single aspect of the garments they create, from how the collection looks as a whole down to the precise fabric, stitching, or buttons they chose to use.
What are designers trying to tell us this season? We decipher their Autumn/Winter 2024 couture collections below
FORTHESTAGE
Put together by Chanel’s Fashion Creation St plays up the best of the French fashion house’s most iconic codes and embodies its founder, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s carefree, effortlessly chic approach to fashion. Tweed suits are playfully reinterpreted with bejeweled embellishments, ruff necklines and rich, regal embroidery. The classic black dress takes coquettish cues from the world of ballet. Dresses embrace the peplum waistline, flaring out in layers of black tulle whereas sleeker silhouettes are streamlined using satin ribbons, finished with an elegant bow. From there, the creative team reminds the world of Chanel’s technical prowess, showcasing the full ability of its famed atelier. They present more ambitious designs imbued with drama, while keeping to the house’s sophisticated, modern feel. There are garments with glints of bronze and gold, sequined masterpieces， and billowing capes made from ruffles and feathers. The show-stopper was a voluminous bridal gown in ivory taffeta. The full effect of udio following the departure of creative director Virginie Viard, this haute couture collection these grandiose looks was seen on the runway at the historic opera house, Palais Garnier, where Chanel staged its couture show.
THE SHAPE OF A GODDESS
In 1951, Christian Dior photographed his fashion collection on the Athenian Acropolis, beneath the caryatids, larger-than-life sculptures of women holding up the Erechtheion. Creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri shares the couturier’s love for Classical mythology, to the point of staging her Grecian-inspired Cruise 2022 show in the same historic location, against the backdrop of the legendary Parthenon. With LVMH’s role as the premium partner of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, it comes to no surprise that she has yet again seized the opportunity to revisit this fascination for Dior’s Autumn/Winter 2024 haute couture collection. Paying tribute to the history of the Games, she explores the evolution of sports through the eyes of women, who had to fight for their right to compete. The shape of traditional peplos and chiton is reimagined with jersey as elegant dresses draped beautifully on the body, accented with touches of modernity when paired with metallic tanks or pleats intricately sewn down to ease motion. It is a triumphant celebration of movement, which she leans into with flowing silk dresses, draped skirts revealing a pair of pants at each step, moire jacquard skirts, and athletic bodysuits—one even adorned with gilded feathers.
COCOON Couture
Does being consumed by fashion always have to be a bad thing? With creative director Demna at its helm, Balenciaga’s 53rd couture collection takes “subculture dress codes” and blows them up in the style of its legendary Spanish founder, Cristobal Balenciaga. The most notable is Demna’s embrace of gorpcore. Functional outerwear, such as waterproof parkas and raincoats, are transformed into enveloping elegant cloaks. The average wardrobe of the goth, the rocker, and the football bro is amplified with massive, oversized shirts with hand-painted oil drawings. Paired with face-obscuring head wear and trousers with jackets sewn on to look like they are tied around the waist, Demna suggests a refusal to cover up his fashion identity. Tackling fabric innovation, Demna molds a white column dress made from melted plastic bags onto the body, builds an aluminum foil bustier column, and painstakingly creates faux fur masterpieces from scratch with Balenciaga’s atelier and collaborators. In this cohesive line up of looks, the finale is a cocoon of 47 meters of black nylon fabric twisted around the body， only to be worn once. While some have interpreted this as Demna’s hint at a new era, perhaps it can be read as a message on how the designer finds comfort in fashion as a worthwhile craft and form of self-expression.
PEARLYPURSUITS
Fashion visionary Giorgio Armani’s 89 looks for his latest couture collection hark back to his early days when he was dubbed ‘il Signor Beige’ for his love of neutral shades. The title was initially coined by the industry as a criticism of the designer at the time. The moniker has lost meaning over the years but this collection will silence detractors once and for all. Armani has perfected the art of working with this palette. In fact, there are few who can match his mastery of it. His most recent chapter is a comprehensive study of luminescence—pearls, crystals, and sequins shimmered endlessly on the runway. A single-minded vision flawlessly executed by his atelier， the looks are feather-light, delicate and airy despite elaborate use of these elements. He manages this by contrasting them against sheer Even when working with heavier material, such as black velvet, Armani’s slinky, feminine silhouettes and soft tailoring prevail. With close fabrics and bare skin. One clear example is the beaded pearl cape with swaying, cascading strands draped over naked shoulders. ties to Hollywood since the 1980s, there has been no shortage of Armani’s gorgeous gowns on revered actresses at movie premieres， from Cate Blanchett and Julia Roberts to Elle Fanning. This collection has fans of film and fashion especially eager as they await the upcoming awards season to see if these intricate pieces will take their rightful place on the red carpet.