PFW Wednesday morning: Courrèges and The Row

Paris witnessed two excellent collections Wednesday morning with deeply contrasting styles: the body-con brilliance of Courrèges and the quietest of quiet luxury at The Row.
 

Courrèges: Chic cycles

No show in Paris these days packs as much punch as Courrèges, for whom designer Nicolas Di Felice presented a sinuous, sexy and unexpected collection on a wet Wednesday morning.
 
Cut with rigor, devoid of embroideries and useless accoutrements, this was as concise and focused as sculptural fashion gets. Like his invitation – a silver bracelet twisted in on itself elliptically – the clothes were subtle, each shape evolving into the subsequent look.

Opening with a great series of hooded cocoon coats with cowls, cut with big shoulders and front pockets and worn with leggings and high heels with ankle blinkers. Pants were strict with graceful flares, though their waistbands sat off the back a couple of inches. They were combined with rectangular micro bras. 
 
Dresses were chiseled yet slinky; again, with the waist sitting off the spine, and finished with dangling squares adding motion and energy. The cast with their hair slicked back, their eyes covered in insect shades. Empowered, elegant and energetic, you sensed the models loved how they looked in a show that climaxed with some brilliant unspooling little black dresses and gowns.

“I’m interested in the notion of cycles, both in history and in design. That was the idea for the invitation. That there is no beginning or end, or inside or outside,” he explained.
 
Before pointing out an unusual 1960s photo from an early show by André Courrèges, which featured a grand dame in an elongated satin cocoon coat – light years from the traditional view of the founder as a pop futurist absolutist.
 
Somewhat unwisely, the show did climax in an overly industrial soundtrack, drowning off any applause, as the pearls rattled across the center circle, like an angry sea.
 
Staged inside the late 19th century Carreau du Temple market in an all-white box at the center of which thousands of silver pearls rolled around a jet black 10-meter diameter sieve. Imitating the sound and playing on the shapes of the collection.
 
“Ca vient par vague. It comes in waves,” added Di Felice, holding a sieve in his hand, and nodding to his mood-board and an image of artist Leila Clark cutting paper shapes for hour and hours.
 

The Row: Is this as quiet as it gets?

In the world of quiet luxury, this is about as serene as one gets.
 
One day after opening their debut first Paris store, sisters Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen staged their latest The Row show, before a select audience inside a cut stone mansion on rue des Capucines.
 
Like a convent of the Order of Capucines, a cloistered community dedicated to a life of contemplation, access to this show was extremely strict. And, only on agreement that no guest post social media images of the show, until official photos had been released by the house.
 
Yet there was nothing simple about the materials – an oversized gray single pocket T-Shirt, except it was made of the creamiest cashmere; a double-layered poncho that looked so soft one begged to lay one’s head on it.
 
Tanks cut with scalloped necklines; double layer gauzy bell pepper shaped skirts with deep pockets; a crinkly wool sheath that could have been worn by a latter-day Joan of Arc. Everything was deceptively simple, yet reeking in quiet self-confidence – just like a Row gal. Oversized but never engulfing.
 
In a season of mono-color, this was the strictest palette of any major show so far, black, soft blues, putty gray and ecru.
 
A suitable celebration of their new Paris store – and fifth worldwide – on rue Mont-Thabor, itself finished in light brown Lutetia limestone, and decorated with mid-century modern furniture. Austere, even convent like, recalling the Capucines, or Poor Clares as they are known in English.
 
The Row would not be the first fashion house to echo spiritual simplicity in its fashion. Consider Coco Chanel, whose HQ is around the corner, and who was influenced by her adolescence in a French convent. 
 
Which helps makes sense of the recent news that the Wertheimers – owners of Chanel – are part of an investor group that have recently acquired a minority stake in The Row. Poor Clares did we say? Hardly, the new partners valued The Row at one billion dollars.