In 1968 Cristóbal Balenciaga decided to close his Paris salon and his workshops in Madrid permanently.
Two years earlier, Yves Saint Laurent inaugurated his
prêt-à-porter line
, Rive Gauche.
Although the union of the designer and the factory had been something more or less common for almost a decade, the fact that he, precisely, decided to expand his business towards mass production and practical design made the world understand that haute couture, Until then, the only way to understand designer fashion had become a niche reserved for a privileged few (less and less).
Since then, the question has always been the same: what is haute couture for?
During the first years of this century, the theatricality of Alexander McQueen or John Galliano at Dior served to restore relevance to fashion understood as spectacle and to reactivate the engine of the purchase of accessories and cosmetics, but in this last decade of capsule collections , infinite collaborations and absolute reign of luxury
merchandising
, apart from the creatives dedicated entirely to the made-to-measure business, many wonder if it makes sense to continue designing and investing in two annual couture collections.
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All the photos from the Balenciaga couture show in Paris
Last summer, Demna reopened the salons that Cristóbal Balenciaga closed more than half a century ago.
She did it to present Balenciaga's 50th couture collection, an incredible design exercise that mixed the codes of
prêt-à-porter
and even urban fashion with the exquisite materials and craftsmanship of couture.
She did it, she said then, for the love of clothes (not fashion) and to pay homage to the teacher.
In fact, there was no more music than the walking of the models, to reflect the solemnity with which Cristóbal took his job.
From left to right, Nicole Kidman, Kim Kardashian and Dua Lipa with three of the proposals from Balenciaga's 51st haute couture collection. Courtesy Balenciaga
Balenciaga's 51st collection, also presented on Wednesday in the iconic salons at number 10 George V Avenue before only 50 guests, has been a proposal that, as Demna recounted after the
show
, does not update the legacy of the house, but "looks at the past from the future".
He has read Cristóbal's past according to his own codes, such as the contrast between anonymity and celebrity, exemplified in a first part of masked models with helmets made by Mercedes, and a second in which Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman and, of course, have walked the catwalk. ,Kim Kardashian.
Or as the fusion between craftsmanship and technology, combining speaker-bags made with Bang and Olufsen with denim jackets or dresses made of aluminium, leather and taffeta, most of which are recycled.
“I think now people are demanding something special, not necessarily entirely bespoke.
It is more an appreciation for materials and limited editions or customization”, said the designer.
And he continued: "The fact of recovering used fabrics is part of that idea."
Wedding dress from Balenciaga's 51st couture collection, presented on July 6 in Paris. Courtesy Balenciaga
If Demna, architect of a new way of communicating and interpreting fashion, approaches haute couture from a curious and very unique fusion between elitism and democracy, Virginie Viard, creative director of Chanel, does so from pragmatism.
A formula that, paradoxical as it may seem, works: the French firm has not stopped raising its prices since the pandemic, and yet it has grown no less than 50% last year.
Many may miss the spectacularity and iconoclasm of Karl Lagerfeld, but the designs of Viard, who was her right-hand man for two decades, respect Chanel's revolutionary codes, which were born precisely from functionality.
Her couture collection for this year updates the fluid and rectilinear silhouettes of the thirties of the last century and combines them with boots
cowboy
(the house was the first to dress its models in sneakers at a couture show, back in 2014).
Viard designs not red carpets, but wardrobes, even as he makes bespoke dresses that hide hundreds of hours of work.
The parade of the haute couture collection of the Giorgio Armani Privé line, on July 5 in Paris. JOHANNA GERON (REUTERS)
In that sense, Viard's approach to couture is very similar to that of Giorgio Armani in his Privé line.
He does think (a lot) about the red carpet, but also about reality, even if it is a reality that very few pockets can afford.
If Chanel's girlfriend was Jill Kortleve, the first model larger than 36 to close a house show, Giorgio Armani's wore a white suit jacket.
Behind her, there was a long standing ovation for what is perhaps the only great active fashion legend;
His collection, based on the brilliance and the play of light of the pieces in motion, was perhaps not the most spectacular on Tuesday, but it will surely be, as usual, one of the ones that receives the most orders.
Model Jill Kortleve in Chanel's haute couture wedding dress on July 5, 2022. Michel Euler (AP)
But in these times that point to a new way of approaching couture, it is not necessary to have the disruptive genius of Demna or the trained and practical eye of Armani.
The Dutch Viktor and Rolf recounted in a recent interview in
El País Semanal
that, in these 30 years of career, they have found their audience in cultural institutions and fashion schools, that is to say, that haute couture does not have to be worn to be profitable.
Now that they celebrate 30 years of sculptural fashion, in the most literal sense of the expression, they have reversed one of their classics: modular clothing.
Viktor&Rolf designers adjust the jacket of one of the models at the Viktor and Rolf Fall/Winter 2023 Haute Couture show on July 6, 2022 in Paris.Lewis Joly (AP)
They themselves removed the armored structure of the jackets from the models and repositioned it until they turned a men's jacket into a Victorian-style garment.
There will be those who still think that haute couture, in addition to craftsmanship and exclusivity in materials, must be splendor, visual artifice and elitism, but if times have changed (and they did a long time ago in fashion) this market niche does not have to remain immutable but, as Demna said on Tuesday morning, "leave behind the weight of inheritance."
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