By Jesse Scott
No one epitomizes the magic of Haute Couture Week quite like Georges and Jad Hobeika. Always one of the first shows on the haute couture calendar, the father-son team unfailingly pays tribute to exquisite craftsmanship and classical femininity in their purest forms. Equally impressively, they do so while encouraging guests to slow down in the middle of their hectic schedules and appreciate what a privilege to be alive, to be loved, and yes, to be in fashion.
This season’s show, entitled “The Visitor,” was inspired by James McRae’s poem, Instructions while Visiting Earth. McRae’s eloquent words, designed to comfort and guide the soul as we faith this complicated and at times heart-wrenching journey called life, are equally eloquently re-interpreted by Georges and Jad both textually and sartorially. “They tell you to live each day as if it were your last,” the Hobeikas told guests in the show notes. “Try the opposite. Live it as if it were your first.” They proceeded to instill us with a sense of childlike wonder as models emerged on the Palais Bronignart runway bathed in a soothing aquatic blue light. This collection felt more playful, yet no less elegant, than recent efforts, and it was possessed of a peculiar ephemerality which accepted the inevitability of death and the transient nature of relationships with grace. “On this planet, nothing is permanent,” McRae’s poem reads. “People and things will come and go. You will fall in love and form sentimental attachments only to lose everything you hold dear.” The Hobeikas’ protagonists, largely dressed in a gentle aquamarine color palette, embraced and found peace with this sentiment.
Star-Studded Guest List Contemplates Life and Love
Heart Evangelista, Becca Bloom, and Leonie Hanne were among the illustrious names in attendance as the Hobeikas embarked on their latest journey. The first look, a black lace number with a flirtatious skirt and glittering “poms” on the bodice, hinted at the impeccable elegance yet indisputable lightheartedness of the collection. “Cling to nothing too tightly, even yourself,” it seemed to say (to quote McRae). “And when it’s time to let go, let go with grace, to nothing is owned, only borrowed.” From there the collection expanded into a series of layered looks, as structured corsets were paired with shimmering slinky dresses in silhouettes that have become a Hobeika signature in recent seasons. Sheer was used frequently to delightful effect, while cascading jewels, many on ensembles an ethereal shade of aquamarine, lulled us into a blissful trance. A woman crosses the room in a dress that moves like water finding its level,” the Hobeikas told us. “She will pass, the way everything here passes. She sat a hundred hours so the light would fall on her that way.
A few pieces stood out for their ingenuity in both structure and detail. A form-fitting black halter with fierce Napoleonic cutouts flowed into a rose gold gown. A corset bodice gave way to a quadripartite aquamarine dress that undulated down the runway like shimmering coral buffeted by the waves. And one particularly dramatic dress featured among the most intricate yet bold floral embroidery that I have seen from the Hobeikas in recent memory. It was echoed by a stellar shoe collection starring an orchid motif, which, along with imagery of beetles and snails, served as a reminder to appreciate the small wonders of the everyday.
The bridal look, with its dramatic butterfly shoulders, proceeded down the aisle to the haunting lyrics of Rob Grant’s and Lana del Rey’s “Lost at Sea.” Yet these were not the sea siren protagonists that according to Greek myth lured sailors to their death. Rather, they were a type of mermaid goddess, watching over Planet Earth and encouraging us to seek love and softness even within suffering.
“Don’t keep your soft heart locked inside a glass cage protected from wear and tear,” McRae’s poem ends. “You’ll never make it out alive and time passes quickly. So come back with some battle scars and good stories to tell.” The words seemed particularly poignant for industry who have battled through two massive heatwaves in the most trying fashion season I can remember. And as we entered yet another Couture Week (which perhaps above all else is the Fashion Olympics) the Hobeikas’ exquisite, handcrafted collection reminded us to slow down, smell the sea breeze, and remember what we love about the industry in its purest form.