Serkan Cura / Photography Ger Ger
The fifth and final day of Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week showcased a wide breadth of collections, demonstrating artistic and aesthetic differences. From Serkan Cura’s feathered corsets, to Ralph & Russo’s timelessly sophisticated gowns, this day stressed the individual perspective each designer holds when it comes to dressing women. We also entered the universes of Zuhair Murad, Dice Kayek, Eymeric François, and Oscar Carvallo, Svetlana Kushnerova.
This season, Serkan Cura injected doses of highlighter hues into his feathered collection. The Belgian designer, of Turkish origin, exaggerated volume in shoulders constructed entirely of plumes and embellished bustiers and chests with massive jewels. Corsets dominated the runway while skirts were fabricated by fur strands and emerald trousers resembled luminous reptile scales. Cura concluded the défilé with a magnificent structured dress that displayed a fan of feathers. With only piercing eyes visible, Cura’s woman perfectly embodied creative liberty.
Zuhair Murad
Long angular forms, powdered with opulent beading, strode down the runway at Zuhair Murad’s Haute Couture show. A divine halo of pure ornamental brilliance illuminated red carpet gowns that were painted in monochrome, jewel and crystal tones, resulting in a bold display of unparalleled elegance. A tinsel-tinted, sequin infused, bridal gown was an emotional, almost saintly, tribute to all things matrimony. Off-the-shoulder pieces hung like cobwebs and lithely wended down the catwalk, crippling our insides with an impalpable feeling of ecstasy.
Raph & Russo / Photography Ger Ger
Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo entered the world of interior photographer Massimo Listri, whose precise attention to detail formed the base of this visually rich collection. Pearl and crystal embellishments were perfectly spaced on ice blue silk dresses creating a symmetrical effect found in the mirrors of Versailles. Baroque motifs were embroidered on off-white wool crêpe jumpsuits, jackets, and off the shoulder dresses. Filled with lavender, powder pink, midnight blue, and black, Ralph & Russo’s collection demonstrated a modern romanticism. For the finale, five people were required in order to move the train of the wedding dress. That’s when you know you’ve reached unprecedented heights in the savoir-faire of haute couture.
Dice Kayek / Photography Stéphanie Rebeccu
A garden of bucolic beauty trimmed in saturated hues, myriad pearls and twinkling hand-blown glass beads blossomed at the Dice Kayek Haute Couture show. It was Turkish-French designer Ece Ege’s first couture collection, and her ethereal oeuvre was lauded by guests, who were entranced by a symphony of sculptural organza layered dresses and twisted duchesse satin moulded into textured gardenias. Saturated hues reflected the contours of moisture-laden roses, while hyperbolized sleeves and grandiose silhouettes were embroidered with crystals, reminiscent of lustrous raindrops.
Eymeric François / Photography Beatrice Manson Press
The French designer Eymeric François gave birth to a new collection that explored every woman’s wicked side. Titled Vampires, the decorative collection featured a myriad of embellished corsets that reinforced petite waists and an hourglass curve. Silhouettes were elongated by floor length gowns while busts were accentuated in tight bustiers. François’s vixen was dangerously sexy in nude dresses with black motifs and elegant in mermaid-tail gowns. The immense work involved in embroidery was clearly highlighted in one delicate dress that included 8,200 beads. Even though some models had difficulty walking in the looks, François’s vampire should be regarded as a seductive force that cannot be tamed. What makes a woman immortal? Her own creation of elegance.
Phosphorus gowns garnished with gauzy netting and pastel tulle dominated Oscar Carvallo’s soul-stirring autumn/winter 2014 Haute Couture collection. Impassioned by the liberation of the people of Venezuela, Carvallo (born in Caracas, Venezuela) imagined a spiritual collection that unified freedom and futurism. The South-American designer applied scintillating pearlized leather, embroidered hearts and labyrinthine mesh against romantically sculpted silhouettes. Using couture as a theoretical passage through space-time, Carvallo composed a rounded Plexiglas jumpsuit decorated with delicate wires redolent of wormholes. The extravagant piece punctured our veins, leaving us whirling and weightless like Oscar Carvallo’s profoundly emotional and metaphysical métier.
Svetlana Kushnerova / Photography Ger Ger
Fashion designer Svetlana Kushnerova closed Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week on an elegantly creative note. This season, Kushnerova honoured tweed in her creation by toying with graphics and drape. Textiles are mixed and matched to create a fun loving, casual look while the proportion of legs varied according to the length of garments. Dresses are both short and long at the same time as Kushnerova played with what we saw, and what we didn’t. The colour palette stayed in the earthy tones and was translated in leather, silk, linen, and python. The final look was a fairy-tale moth-eaten grey dress with a floating silk cape that stunned audience members.
Words / Sheri Chiu and Chloe Rash
Photography / Stéphanie Rebeccu and Ger Ger
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