Elie Saab, Patou and Clara Daguin

Paris couture week throws up lots of remarkable options, from Elie Saab Casbah couture with a mini J Lo fashion riot, to rampant off-calendar experimenting at Clara Daguin, to Guillaume Henry’s finest statement for Patou
 

Elie Saab: Medina Mode before J Lo

A voyage into a melodic medina at Elie Saab, images of Saharan princesses and modern day Nefertitis, presented before a contemporary goddess Jennifer Lopez.
 
Entering the packed show, Jenny from the Block ignited an immense paparazzi mangle, that made a Six Nations rugby maul look like a sedate tea party. Impressively, in the middle of this flashing maelstrom, J Lo looked the picture of perfection as she took her seat in the front row. Her choice of one of Elie’s great green feathered screen idol plissé dresses was, well, perfect.

Lopez didn’t have a hair out of place, just like the models in this show, who all appeared in the stiffest of chignons. Walking inside the Palais de Tokyo, before an immaculately coiffed audience of 800. All driven on by a brilliant soundtrack, climaxing with some shuck and jive galactic funk Sonnenschiff by Alain Grasselli.
 
A collection suggesting an enchanted medina, with a set built with red arches and wall hangings in lavish textures. A labyrinth with a desert breeze through which walked the cast in Saab’s delicately moody color palette: blush pink chiffon clouds; lilac blue crepe skies or crystal rays on flesh-colored columns.
 
His cast marching in sandstone tulle cutaway gowns; gilded coats made of intricate metallic knits; or silk thread mesh off the shoulder ballgowns, ideal for a contemporary Cleopatra. Finished with canopies of feather flowers and accompanied by gradient capes in glistening organza. As if out on a stroll in a classy casbah.
 
Everything made for evening. Not a pant suits, tailleur or cocktail in sight. This was a classic Elie Saab couture collection, perhaps a little too much so.
 
Not that it mattered to J Lo, whose nostrils quivered in delight throughout the whole show. A California potentat in a medina de la mode.
 

Dashing and dignified at Patou

Technically speaking Patou staged a ready-to-wear collection during Paris haute couture week, though the show still felt like a major highlight of the season.
 
Probably the finest collection and most complete wardrobe created by Guillaume Henry for the house, this was a standout fashion statement – Parisian, polished, punchy and powerful.
 
“I wanted something worthy of women, giving a certain dignity,” explained Henry, who took his bow by running around the set inside the Palais de Tokyo to cheers and multiple cries of “bravo!”
 
A tight guests list, and powerful one – from J. Smith-Cameron, Kelly Rutherford and Zooey Deschanel to a gang of French It Gals – sat down on compressed cardboard blocks in an undulating front-row.
 
The mood set pre-show with a gently melancholic waltz, before ramping up in the show, with the Divine Comedy’s classic Our Mutual Friend, on an extended loop.
 
What worked best were the short skirts with flippy hems, worn with padded combat jackets, the great pants suits with extended six-button jackets and flare pants, and the perfectly judged lack skirts and crisp blouses.
 
Henry cut with broad shoulders – belted jackets, large lapel coats and jaunty blazers. The cast, with hair pulled back gently and sporting gold bauble earrings, marched quickly, busy Parisians on the move. Ending with a series of great flamenco dresses – rouched and ruffled in large polka dots or jet black.
 
Since being relaunched in 2018 Patou has been on a slow boil, initially staging small intimate shows and presentations in its HQ near Notre Dame. And, even if financed 100% by LVMH, the house has always been run like a fledgling start-up.
 
In those five years, Henry smartly established a clear identity, while tapping into the DNA of Patou, a storied French house founded back before WWI. If at first Guillaume’s emphasis on diaphanous taffeta and cotton shirts made a strong statement but a tricky wear, this collection was both wonderful and wearable.
 
With new boss Michael taking control on Febuary 1 of LVMH’s Fashion Group – in which Patou is housed – Henry picked the right moment to hit a fashionable home run.
 

Clara Daguin : Space trash style

Couture is always said to be the laboratory of fashion, though most couturiers don’t really experiment that much. Clara Daguin, on the other hand, is couture’s leading new generation scientist.
 
Her materials are technical tulle and gabardine, techy silk, LEDs and copper wire, and her collections are phantasmagorical with groovily galactic coats and jumpsuits of light, or acid-stained velvet dresses speckled with stars.
 
This season, the French-born and California raised Daguin dreamed up a Space Trash dress, inspired by the idea of space debris impacting in Outer Space. “Really, really small particles crash into each other up there at very high speeds, making more and more trash. And I was really fascinated by that idea,” she explained.
 
The result was a full dress in technical tulle overstitched with LED chains and then topped by shards of broken resin that aped smashed up transistors and terminals.
 
Another fencing style jacket came in transparent tulle with filigrees of polyester threads, copper wire and LEDs, ideal of a cocktail party at a colony on Mars. Surprisingly, despite all the light, nothing heats up, not even Clara’s debut handbag trimmed in light. 
 
This Saturday, Daguin will stage a fashion performance in a module-like installation and cocktail in Atelier Basfroi, on Paris’ rue Basfroi.
 
Her latest experiment follows a creche installation inside the famed medieval church of Saint Eustache in Les Halles, where Louis XIV made his First Communion. And where Clara showed Joseph and Mary, in LED illuminated cassocks, holding the Infant Jesus. The latter – rest assured – was a baby dummy.