Confronted with problems in fabric deliveries and supplier closures during France’s coronavirus lockdown, fashion designer Alexis Mabille had to improvise to salvage his next collection, turning to materials he had to hand.
Like peers unveiling their creations at Paris’s Haute Couture showcase this week – an online-only format – Mabille began confectioning his looks before restrictions on movement in much of Europe were lifted.
That derailed everything from the availability of made-to-order embroideries to the process of casting models who usually fly around the world for fittings, but provided couturiers with novel forms of inspiration too.
“I worked in the opposite direction – instead of working on the design, the material and the colour, I started from the colour of the fabric and then the collection,” Mabille told Reuters, adding that he had sought to project a “bright view on things” with dresses that ranged from vivid purple to yellow and shimmering animal-style prints.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCX6FuvI8qG/
Haute Couture Week features one-of-a-kind outfits stitched by hand, presented by a select club of designers.
Even for the biggest brands with huge means, however, Europe-wide lockdowns proved a challenge.
Maria Grazia Chiuri, who designs womenswear for Christian Dior, owned by the LVMH conglomerate, coordinated her collection from Rome via video calls with seamstresses and production teams working at home as a result of the lockdown.
The label also faced some lost or delayed deliveries as it tried to bring its concept for a collection presented on mini-mannequins together – and Chiuri said she had had to readjust to life without office staff.
“I used my daughter a lot,” she joked.
Dior’s teams of taylors and seamstresses – all wearing face masks – came together in early July to put the final touches on looks in the brand’s atelier in Paris.