THE new season in Paris kicked off with one of the newest and most promising talents of the year: Anthony Vaccarello.
Chosen as this year’s ANDAM winner by a panel including Giles Deacon, Christopher Lemaire, Martin Margiela, Emmanuelle Alt and Hilary Alexander, Vaccarello must have felt the pressure of the industry’s expectations on his shoulders as his models took to the catwalk tonight – but it didn’t show one bit.
Black was the colour of choice, with only a touch of navy here and there, before the introduction of snakeskin-printed chiffon added another dimension to the collection. Silhouettes were clean and ultra-sexy – no dress was spared a thigh-split or cleavage plunge – and an army of slick-ponytailed, glossy wine-lipped models strutted as if such confident and powerful shapes were designed with them in mind.
Delicate, wire-thin, gold metal hardware, appeared on almost every top and dress – as straps and clasps and cut-outs wove together to create a coherently complex offering – but there was a lightness of touch in the fabrication and in the placement of strapping that said this man also understands femininity.
It may be his first season, but with Joan Smalls, Anja Rubik, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Karlie Kloss on his catwalk, we know he means business – and that business will be loved by powerful, sexy women.