Our favorite game to play come Paris Couture Week is “Spot the Red Carpet Dress”. When Hollywood’s hottest stylists shop the market for their fashionable clients, the couture shows are usually their first stop. The one-of-a-kind, handmade creations that strut down the Paris runways will soon be posing on the red carpets of every award show from the Emmys to the Oscars.
While we use the word “couture” all too often these days, it’s important to note that the world of couture is highly regulated and exclusive. A brand can’t just claim their pieces are couture-- they have to be approved members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and meet certain criteria. (Namely: they must design made-to-order pieces and have at least one on-on-one fitting, have a workshop in Paris that employs a minimum of fifteen staff members full time, have at least twenty technical workers, and present a collection of at least fifty original designs, twice a year.) For Fall 2018, 23 designers showed at Couture Week, including six of our own brands at MDD: Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, Maison Margiela, Armani Prive and Valentino.
We perused the runways for the truly stand-out pieces and put them together as a Fall 2018 Couture Primer.
At Christian Dior, the big question is — what would JLaw do? The Dior Ambassador will no likely be popping up during awards season in any number of frocks from the couture runway. (We think she’ll wear the midnight blue pleated chiffon!) The gorgeous floral embellished strapless has Emma Stone’s name all over it.
60’s vibes permeated the runway at Fendi, with the models sporting graphic winged liner and towering beehives. The attention to detail and superb craftsmanship of the garments in trademark of the couture shows, and nowhere was it more obvious than at Fendi. The untraditional use of feathers and fur was truly jaw dropping-- like the sub-set of dresses and gowns made entirely of feathers, in unexpected silhouettes.
While Givenchy’s couture moment of 2018 was hands down the new Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle’s wedding gown, many of the gorgeous gowns that Clare Waight Keller sent down the couture runway were no doubt fierce competition. Our favorites were the crystal embellished creations. (But we’ll definitely be seeing that orange gown with the cutouts on this awards season, trust.)
The graphic cateye was spotted yet again at Valentino Couture, so we guess that means that it’s time to break out the sharpie liners. The drama at Valentino was all about oversized shapes and rich hues. (We are dying for the hot pink ruffles!)
With a whopping 96 looks, we had a hard time choosing our favorites at Armani Prive. The subset of hot pink evening gowns was arguably our favorite part. No one does red carpet glamour like Giorgio and we have no doubt that many of the looks we saw in Paris will grace the frames of Hollywood’s It Girls.
