Paris on Monday looks East with Sacai and Rokh

One looked east on Monday in Paris with two powerful statements by much-admired brands Sacai and Rokh, one by Chitose Abe of Japan, the other by Rok Hwang from Korea.
 

Sacai: Under investigation

One almost felt accused of a crime sitting down at the Sacai show, where a wall of neon light forced the entire audience to squint. Was a detective about to appear to question us?

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So intensely irritating was the light, the accusation must have been grave: not mere shoplifting, more like maltreating a horse. Packed into the Gare Air France, a former grand bus depot of the airline, laid out in a tight maze, under hot lights, this was the worst show set so far this season in Paris.
 
The collection itself did have certain moments of beauty, but the overall feeling was of seeing too many of designer Chitose Abe’s old tricks at Sacai, albeit served up in far larger proportions. Make that too large proportions.

What worked were the meeting of nylon flight jacket, peacoats and tudor matelassé capes; and the ribbed cable knits with open shoulders and sleeves that started at the elbow.
 
However, the bedraggled fishing net knits and frequently absurd shag rug tops were quite frankly appalling. Quite why dozens of designers in North America and Europe this season think deep pile wool is cool, or mop style fabrics are fashionable is unfathomable.
 
For evening, Abe did send out a few fetching navy blue coats with mesh midriffs and gathered lower halves that had real power. They almost saved this collection, but not quite. 
 
Abe’s influence on fashion trends in the past half-decade has been huge, her ideas of composite couture or assemblage-chic vital. But every designer has a season when they are a fair few points off their A-game. This was one of those today at Scaai.
 

Rokh: Renaissance’n’roll Romanticism

A contemporary vision of the meeting of High Renaissance and hipster Romanticism in a very fine collection from the house of Rokh.

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Staged inside the Hotel Mona Bismarck on the Seine, where a tapestry of a handsome angel ascending into heaven greeted guests. Most designers would have taken the image from a famed Old Master, not Rok Hwang, who worked with graphic artists to imagine his own version of the sexy seraphin. 
 
Who then flew on the most wonderful mesh dress, finished half-way down in a tapestry of another romantic hero. 
 
Though the show began with a quintet of excellent dresses and skirt-blazer combinations – brilliant assemblages or juxtapositions of strict power-shoulder mess jackets; taught techy tops; saucy lingerie; jersey cummerbunds; lace petticoats; and crisp wool plissé. All of them very astutely draped. Rokh’s clothes are not the easiest to wear but if you have the self-confidence, one can look stunning.
 
His polyglot co-ed cast were beautifully prepared – their locks teased and jelled into curly strands on the foreheads, their eyeshadow earthy, their lips rouged. Somewhere between a courtesan and a femme fatale at a court suddenly invaded by a cool 21st-century youth cult.
 
Before the whole concept went into total overdrive with a phantasmagoric tapestry dress, a dying Greek heroine in a field of spring flowers. 
 
Rokh’s one denim look – a cut out jean jacket separated and attached over a mesh, and combined with a wickedly twisted draped skirt – was sensational. Short of the blind, who would not want to meet a gal dressed like that?
 
In an elegant touch, a maestro pianist played classic music life at the entrance, while the soundtrack featured a Rachmaninoff piano concerto. Another elegant gesture, seeing as the Sergei Rachmaninoff Conservatory is located on the next block. 
 
No huge crowd for this show, as many people outside as inside underneath the gilded frescos and grand salons. But one couldn’t help but notice how many French women were in the audience. And if there is one thing the French know a lot about it is fashion.
 
In short, given the complexity of his designs, Rok Hwang can be an erratic designer. But when he gets it right, as he did this season, he ranks up among the Gotha of modern creators.