Alain Paul’s narrative this season was about a classically trained dancer stepping into an underground rave. He set the scene by stamping guests’ hands, like in a club, handing them little key-chain flashlights and ushering them into a dark room. At the start of the show, strobe lights came on, and a cluster of club kids in the center of the room spun and flailed around as the models filed out.
The clothes in this fun coed show were a mix of classical and modern, including reimagined costumes from the ballet stage and trippy rave colors such as silver lamé, black, pink and kiwi.
There was a spontaneous, handmade feel to it all, with parachute seams cutting across sheer, draped dresses worn over lingerie, while loose bits of yarn dangled from a pair of black knitted shorts. The ends of a ballet wrap sweater were tied into a chunky makeshift knot, while tailored suit jackets and coats were gathered at the back with little clasps.
You May Also Like
The silver lamé pieces — fluttery parachute dresses, pussy bow blouses and ballerina flats with crisscross black elastic at the front — were among the standouts. The Marie Antoinette style pannier skirts, a nod to last season’s show at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, were fun, especially when paired with those unraveling knitted sweaters.
The designer said he wanted to look at studied and free movement, and had a real desire to “get different types of people together. I also wanted the knits to feel very human. They were handmade and we left all the mistakes, like the little threads, in.”
The pannier skirts, he added, were meant as a moment of fun. Paul said he was thinking about a dancer layering parts of his costume over his usual clothes on his way out of the opera house. It was a terrific fusion of fantasy and reality, although good luck to anyone trying to wedge those pannier skirts through the turnstiles on the Paris Metro on their way home after a long day.
