A young painter’s abstract expressionism, a female pirate’s search for lost treasures and a mythical high priestess who is at once goddess and alien – these modern fairy tales were written by the world’s most talented couturiers who presented their shows digitally or in some of the most exclusive venues in Paris.
Take a seat in the first row and enjoy the best couture and haute couture shows of spring and summer 2022.
Stéphane Rolland Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022
A movement revealing a thought. Stéphane Rolland deconstructs to express a new balance, full of reminiscence. He remodels and outsizes. The young Italian-Spanish painter Viani’s abstract expressionism is inspiring. Each look spreads generously into airy tunics and kaftans. Rich minimalism. Sleeves caress the floor, immense draped hoods and head veils add some mystery, some protection.
As airy as impressive, chiffons glide and move on draped toga dresses. Metallic weaves lighten long sea jackets. Dressed with an inverted cape or an open tunic, the woman turns our back to us to better expose it. Curves are declined in pebble sculptures, from the way the gowns are constructed to the embroideries or leather coated jewelries. These jewels are made from gigantic stones; as precious as emeralds, aquamarines, topazes and citrines in crystal blown and chiseled by Théophile Caille, the French flame glassmaker.
A style, a woman, a spirit.
Ziad Nakad Couture Spring/Summer 2022
For his Spring/Summer 2022 couture collection MuZeum, Ziad Nakad invites us to discover a collection of cosmopolitan muses, which are all different but have in common an assumed femininity.
France, Australia, Georgia, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Korea – for his choice of muses, the designer opted for a panel of women from around the world to emphasize the fact that beauty is universal.
The opening dress of the collection is a symbol of light, which is born from darkness. An invitation to make a wish. Throught the collection we find the signature of Ziad Nakad: oversized shoulders, marked waists, bold and pastel colours, unterlined by jeweled belts and embroidery. The signature dresses are created like mosaics, sewn square by square in Ziad Nakad’s atelier in Beirut. A work of six months, and an incalculable number of hours per dress, in order to create a perfect architecture that molds the body of a woman, a muse.
Tulle, taffeta and lace highlight here and there a slender silhouette. A line of accessories, Swarovski belts and oversized earrings complete the silhouette.
Valentino Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022
Driven by the urge to build a modern community of makers and creators around Maison Valentino, convinced that painting is to contemporary art what haute couture is to fashion, creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli brings a group of painters of all ages, backgrounds, and aesthetic inclinations into the Italian atelier.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022
With An Age of Discipline, Daniel Roseberry pays tribute to the empyreal, the ultimate heavenly paradise.
The heavens as a place to escape from the chaos of our planet, but also the home of a mythical high priestess, at once goddess and alien, who might walk among us. Her clothes defy rules of gravity: She wears razor sharp tailoring, with nipped waists and oversized “dove” collars ready to take flight. She wears a short cream duckbill-backed jacket of tailors “U.S.” cotton toile, embroidered with vintage Schiaparelli palm trees that actually lift themselves from her shoulders and stand upright at attention.
She wears neat shorts trimmed in ecru silk faille, beige satin waist cinchers, aerodynamic bustiers with cream satin sashes, and fountains of black crin that tremble and bounce in movement. She wears a long tailcoat in satin back faille, embroidered with a vintage Schiaparelli motif – the Apollo Fountain of Versailles.
Zuhair Murad Couture Spring/Summer 2022
Vers les joyaux du temps is a collection inspired by a universe of mysterious hidden islands, lost treasures of gold and precious stones hidden in ancient galleons lying at the bottom of the sea.
More than three centuries after their last voyage across the oceans, sensual pirates bedecked with ornate jewels emerge from a spectacular wreck to set off once more to conquer uncharted lands. The silver embroidery on their outfits has darkened, in striking contrast to the tangles of gold chains and pearls slung from their slender waists.
Lebanese couturier Zuhair Murad has envisioned for them a wardrobe at the crossroads of the Grand Siècle and the digital era. He furnishes them with time-worn navigation charts elucidated with lavish embroidery on ball gowns, or in tattoos on tulle, an art in which we perceive his signature, with the navigation routes intersecting in magnificent golden contours and forming constellations.
The palette is dominated by the aged pink of maritime dawns, the pallid red of canopies faded by sun and salt, the sand of beaches and deserts, and the rust of oxidized metals, along with traces of the blue or green of the water when it reflects the sky, brocades and embroideries bring back to life the flamboyance attenuated by the passage of time.
Elie Saab Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022
Eden on earth, the new Elie Saab collection, is an ode to the Mediterranean, a landscape of beauty, heritage, and charm. Gradients of capacious feathered ballgowns capture the magic of the in between moments of dusk and dawn, as the sun tints the skyline in celestial blues and sea green.
Shimmery sequins and crystals embellish the tulle of night, guiding the exploration across a vast geography of plunging necklines and mermaid tails. Layers of fuchsia, blush and chartreuse taffeta explode into large off-the-shoulder rose petals and peony bouquets that exaggerate organic feminine curves.
Tony Ward Couture Spring/Summer 2022
On Aura Tout Vu Couture Spring/Summer 2022
Thierry Mugler probably watched the Superheroes Couture Show by On Aura Tout Vu from heaven and most certainly loved it.
A metaphor of renaissance, survivors who discover supernatural powers, magic potions to fly over a prosaic reality.
Instead of showing a never ending collection, the designers should have limited it to the best 30 outfits. The venue, a night club in Paris, is not suited for a fashion show, especially when it shows an audience not wearing masks.
If you liked our article The Best Couture Shows Spring 2022, read our latest articles about couture and haute couture.
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Photo: Courtesy of Stéphane Rolland
