PARIS, 9/30— Monday began under the cover of darkness, a short ten-minute walk through the pre-dawn streets of the 9th Arrondissement from my hotel to the Palais Garnier or simply the Opéra where Stella McCartney would be staging her Spring 2014 runway show just as she had the previous season. I am willing to admit I don’t much fancy early morning call times, but all the same I do excel at making them. My sleep regimen during my European residencies steels me for such occasions, after all I rise daily at 06h30. However, spoiler alert, I did not make that 02h30 Louis Vuitton call-time Tuesday. Discipline ought not be confused with lunacy, especially when it isn’t me walking down the runway!
On the morning Alexandra Martynova (above) featured in the show and wore the collection’s second look down the runway. The breathtaking Alexandra, or “Marty” as she has been affectionately dubbed this season, is a real charmer on camera. This season, to pass the hours spent in hair and makeup, she has taken to sketching details of the ornate and often gilded interiors of Parisian backstages. The Paris Opéra provided sumptuous Beaux-Arts subject after subject for Marty to put pen to paper.
Marty worked closely with the house leading up to the show by serving as the makeup test subject for Pat McGrath. A snapshot of Marty’s look was at every station backstage to provide guidance. During the lineup moments before the show, Marty provided an additional visual reference for the house, albeit this time more memento than instructional, Stella McCartney herself can be witnessed snapping an iPhone picture of the model!
After Stella McCartney, I quickly exited the Opéra through the backstage entrance, thereby avoiding the oceanic collision of invited guests and street photographers. I stepped on the Metro and was off to Giambattista Valli. There I met up with Elisabeth Erm, who was set to close the show. Any chance I have to hear Italian spoken in Paris I will grab with both ears, such is my love for all things Italian. Thankfully my remaining shows in Paris were all by Italian designers!
The stage for the Spring 2014 Giambattista Valli show was built inside Réfectoire des Cordeliers in the 6th Arrondissement. Judging by the bifurcated runway alone with its clean lines and suspended array of fluorescent lighting, you might not know the building was part of a university, but in fact was. Credit to the house for transforming the space into something decidedly more moderna italiana.
Monday concluded for me at Emanuel Ungaro in the 8th Arrondissement, site of last season’s show. Since Fausto Puglisi began designing for the house, the label’s star has risen considerably. To start, the runway was lengthened by as much as one hundred percent through the opening of adjoining rooms in the sprawling villa at 11 rue de Chateaubriand. There was also a certain swagger to the collection as evidenced in the skin-tight black and white ensemble worn by Manon Leloup for her first look (below).
That Prince’s “A Love Bizarre” featured prominently in the runway soundtrack says a lot about the sexiness Puglisi’s collection was intent on channeling. Overall the collection appears to have been met with approval from the sizable gallery assembled. Bravo, Fausto!
Elisabeth Erm also featured in this show (above), she’s featured in many this season!
