The scandal has a short fuse. But for Jean Paul Gaultier, 30 years after Madonna showed off her conical corsets, keeping her pinned is tempting. The latest proposal from the house announced a detour in its recent history: for the first time since the couturier retired from creative direction, the collection contemplated the ready-to-wear instead of haute couture. The roulette of guest designers was also coming to an end. Duran Lantink will be the definitive successor. For its premiere, the Dutchman gave up investigating the firm’s archives. He chose to inspect the limits of free will. On the catwalk, a seafaring air and a certain psychedelic intention shaped neoprene bikinis that faded from memory as soon as the monkeys began to parade: photographs of naked bodies, with exposed genitals, appeared printed on pieces that covered the skin from the collarbone to the ankle.
At Thom Browne, the flashes were unleashed in front of suits made up of a dozen trouser legs and alien masks. Miu Miu chose to cover a commitment to manual work with a protest speech: leather aprons with scalloped bibs, she added sleeveless floral robes, in the style of Mediterranean housewives.
For Juan Ferrando, director of the Degree in Fashion Design at the Nebrija University, the choice of Miuccia Prada denotes a trend “towards local consumption and home-made values” that will develop until it reaches the street. Although the journey of the hype strategy “is short because collections are presented every three months, they already leave us wanting to know what they will do.”