Impressions Haute Couture S/S 2018 Part 4

CONTENTS
Impressum	Vol.18 Issue 05/00, 26.04.2018

Impressions Haute Couture S/S 2018 Part 4

Julien Fournie / Georges Chakra

Fashionfreak ! The Fashion People Site

Julien Fournie

HC S/S 2018

Julien Fournie - Premier Éveil(First Awakening)

For this season, Julien Fournié is composing a wardrobe with the Asian heroines he has in mind. Whether they are anime characters, empresses, wives, dancers, protagonists in films by Yimou Zhang and Kaige Chen or in the novels by Yasunari Kawabata, restraint always signs their expression of elegance.

In resolutely 1950 lines, the meticulous needlework infused by the French couturier is mixing noble monochrome fabrics with antique jacquards and brocades adopted, inspired or reinterpreted from the textile heritage of the Far East. Traces of Japanese kimono, prints of Chinese hanfu and shapes of Manchu «qipao» appear, inlayed in gowns which are floating above the ground. Haute Couture is playing with worldwide codes of craftsmanship to better transcend them: designs dare include polka dots on an Asian traditional belt, inlay organ pipes on a cheongsam sheath, add the memory of obi to a «basque», embroider wisteria on a dress in genuine origami for geisha style, The palette prohibits black and promotes powdery tones, shades of bamboo and pink shimmers. Sheer tulle and lace favor superimpositions and deliberately filter the shine for more decency. Silk drape sculpts bodies in close-to-the-bust cuts, sleeves hide many a secret of Haute Couture techniques. Leather gets involved here and there to sharpen waists or elongate legs.

Wearing heeled T-strapped mules in kaleidoscopic leather, models march on a dashing rhythm. Make-up, hairstyle, light and soundtrack confirm the futuristic character in these aesthetics. Stretched eyebrows and hair tightened as close as possible to the skull mark this awakening to a new consciousness. Like the performers of Butoh, Noh or Kabuki, in their dressing rooms after their show, who reveal more compassion as they are awakening to their true personality, allowing themselves to be more vulnerable.

This is the kind of awakening to which Julien Fournié is calling: to create original fashion designs with a style uniting the best secrets inherited from Paris Haute Couture with other identified and long-established handcrafts, without fear of associating them with digital technologies. Outshining ethnic features and regional identification, constantly reinventing the spirit of Haute Couture, Julien Fournié matches tradition with innovation to express a new cosmopolitan awareness.

HC S/S 2018