At least at Elie Saab, the designer’s “warrior queens†had space to stride under their voluminous skirts of velvet and voile. Pearls and diamanté and gold embroidery included. Sometimes even pants.
Still, that vision of decorative femininity, complete with flowing capes and diadems, most resembles a live-action version of “Frozen†meets â€Game of Thrones.†What works on film can look like a costume party in real life, as Ulyana Sergeenko’s gun molls ’n’ roses ode to 1940s gangsters â€" complete with shoulder pads, hip pads, corsetry, revolver embroidery and lots of mink â€" also proved.
Maison Margiela: Fall 2017
CreditValerio Mezzanotti/Nowfashion
Coincidentally (and appropriately) enough, it was at Maison Margiela Artisanal â€" a show that had been scheduled to take place at the Invalides but had to be moved when President Emmanuel Macron of France chose the monument as Ms. Veil’s memorial site â€" that at least an attempt was made to wrestle the representation of female strength down to its essence.
Literally.
Reducing his focus to the building blocks of glamour, the fabrics and forms on which our assumptions rest, the creative director John Galliano stripped away and rebuilt. His elements were tweed and organza, the trench and the Fair Isle knit, corsets and sheaths, the nylon stocking â€" all of them twisted and taken out of context. This is not a new approach for Mr. Galliano, but it is an increasingly controlled and calibrated one.
A belted bustier that resembled corrugated cardboard but was actually organza silk topped a sheer flesh-toned stocking-cum-pencil skirt. Sherlock Holmes houndstooth coats had the sleeves sliced and draped at mid-bicep like an evening gown. And a classic schoolgirl knit had been boned and molded to the body, shoulder pads moved outside like epaulets, paired with a black-and-white feather skirt, the pieces strung together like a luxury clothes line.
In the end, where the traditional bride may have appeared, a model strode out in cowboy boots and a whitewashed ribbed-knit minidress, anatomy picked out in sequins and slices.
It had willpower woven into its weft.
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