Fashion goes high-tech at futuristic Guy Laroche show
Timeless classics on Wednesday got a makeover for spring/summer 2014 at Paris fashion week in a futuristic science fiction-inspired collection from Guy Laroche, marrying versatile high-tech fabrics with traditional silks.
White shirts and black trousers were "turned on their heads" with off-centred collars and extra-high waists and double layers, while "surreal" cocktail dresses came with voluminous front box pleats.
On the second day of Paris fashion week, Marcel Marongiu's collection aimed to explore "the tension between natural and artificial, man-made and high-tech", the label said.
Marongiu's sleek and streamlined collection drew on a passion for science fiction from—Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" to Andrew Niccol's "Gattaca.
Looks that stood out included "curvy" trenchcoats in a "cutting-edge fusion of silk and (the high-tech fabric) polyamide" and skirts and shift dresses covered in fringes made from optic fibre.
Croatian designer Damir Doma, meanwhile, went for a less stark mood with the accent on the "lightness" of laser-cut, embroidered and sheer fabrics such as silk and linen.
"It started with the show that we did in Florence that was very feminine and light and easy and I wanted to push it a bit more (to be) more elegant, (and) so effortless," he told AFP backstage.
"The most important thing was the lightness that comes definitely from the materials," he said.
Doma's collection was also notable for its asymmetrical looks from pretty summer dresses in white and taupe to more experimental combinations of shorts and dresses.
"I think originally the starting point of the collection was coming from menswear tailoring... and then you go from one piece to the other and you develop," he said.
That process ended with looks in which one half "was constructed and the other half really fluid and deconstructed", he added.
Elsewhere, France's Alexis Mabille took historical inspiration from "Rosie the Riveter", the US cultural icon representing the women who worked in munitions factories during World War II.
"They have breasts, red lips and a boy's approach," he said of his models.
The collection was all about "hyper-glam dressing, worn casually like a guy", he added.
Thursday's line-up at Paris fashion includes one of the week's most anticipated highlights, Alexander Wang's second show for Balenciaga following favourable reviews for his February collection.
The prodigiously talented New York-based Wang, 29, who launched his own label in 2007 when he was was just 23, took over as creative director last year following the departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere who was at the illustrious fashion house for 15 years.
Another higlight of the week is expected to be Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent show on Monday.
Nine days of women's ready-to-wear fashion shows for spring/summer 2014 are due to wrap up on October 2.
© 2013 AFP
