By June Roberson
Stéphane Rolland’s Tuesday mid-week show was the main event this couture season. Repurposing the world’s oldest active circus, the Paris’ Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione as his stage, the mid-morning showing landed as equally convenient for the up-late editor and the Blue Haired Brigade, whose appearances rarely surpass a noon matinee. As for inspiration, it was Picasso’s Parade that prompted Stéphane Rolland’s reinvention of the circus for modern couture. Complete with acrobats, doves of peace, an opera, and of course exceptional designs, it was a rare occasion where calling it a circus act required only explanation, not apology.
Ladies and Gentlemen
For the third consecutive season, the house replaced its invite-only list with 600 public tickets benefiting the Fondation des Hôpitaux and supporting teenagers at risk - an initiative that brought both compassion and rare access to the typically hyper-exclusive world of couture. As the audience filed in, cameras flashed and excitement stirred as guests captured personal content or joked with their fashion week ride-or-dies. If you were benched behind your laptop screen, have no fear, muttered quips and conversational asides could be heard in practiced Franglish (A hybrid of French and English*)* over the show’s livestream for at least secondary immersion in the fun. Guests wore eccentric ensembles, many sure to blend as circus acts themselves. Still, despite a more inclusive guest list, prestige was far from absent, drawing the attendance of France's First Lady, Brigitte Macron, American singer Andra Day, Model and Actress Lisa Rinna and style influencer Heart Evangelista. The foundation’s president, Odette Bouglione also made an appearance.
Couture Caught Mid-Air
The opening three looks evoked a ringmaster unrestrained as jumpsuits formed in premium duchess satin that repurposed light as a luxurious sheen and carried structure in super-broadened shoulders. Nods to the original production surfaced through an Erik Satie-style composition, rhythmic yet irreverent, and cubist accents that drew directly from Leonide Massine's 1917 choreography. Reinterpreting his trademark angular aesthetic, oft bordering on grotesque, the second look introduced spiky headwear that fell in stride with couture's recent bird obsession and architectural hair ornaments, both rectangular and cylindrical, that fed Japanese minimalism to the French drama.
The extensive range of fabrics were realized through equally demanding acts: duchess satin for the grounded leader, lightweight georgette crepe perfect for a floating trapeze femme, and gazar for the lovelorn Pierrot, melancholic beneath ruffs and circle shapes in Look 8, 15. In tailoring, hoop skirts and ultra-high beaded panels assumed various forms, though they remained strongest when dressing mourning royalty or veiling a member of the Bene Gesserit, Looks 18, 26. However, personal praise was reserved for semi-precious accents that remained omnipresent in every form. Jonquil-colored diamonds, crystals, rubies, topazes, and garnets were found spilling over skirts, cascading down necklines, dripping from elvish ear décor in Look 12 and encrusting plexiglass brooches as handcrafted embellishments that elevated impressive craftsmanship to real couture. The last look to emerge, though exquisite as a white gazar bridal gown and accompanied by live doves hovering close as she circled the ring, was hardly the show’s climax. In fact, the true finale spent as much time in the air as it did the runway, as circus performer Natalia Bouglione, suspended in a pure-white jewel-encrusted leotard, soared overhead, joining the doves as a peace offering personified.
The Overture
This Haute Couture season has made history in ways that will find their way into fashion dissertations decades, and dare we say centuries, from now. A bold statement, though after weeks of full-course offerings, from Valentino’s couture viewed via the Kaiserpanorama to Blazy’s Mother Earth collaboration for Chanel and Schiaparelli’s avian avant-garde fantasia, Stéphane Rolland’s trifecta of spectacle, craftsmanship, and production felt like the dessert we didn’t know we still had room for. Rooted in a space long considered a sanctuary for outcasts and chaos alike, the concept proved Rolland is at his strongest when designing unbound by convention and guiding mayhem with a gentle hand.