References to the ’60s youthquake movement. Bodacious updates of styles that liberated women. Awe-inspiring, gasp-inducing concepts never quite seen or done before. The Spring/Summer 2022 collections are bursting with optimism and excitement as designers let loose and embark on new creative arcs to find inspiring ways forward.
Jonathan Anderson is in an experimental, uninhibited era at Loewe – a “new creative chapter” for the house, according to the show notes. Design-wise, this means freer, more avant-garde ideas such as draped tank tops with wing-like shoulders that extend into capes, which the brand describes as representative of “erotic manga characters”.
Sensuality in itself can be said to be the new ground for the intellectually playful Anderson – cue suggestive cut-outs and clingy knit dresses in a palette of abstracted Mannerist colours. Or the collection’s boldest statements: moulded breast plates that give seductive, surrealist form to knit dresses and deconstructed trench coats.
What better way to show a new Balenciaga collection than on the red carpet, the most carefully scrutinised fashion arena there is? With famous figures like Cardi B posing next to planted “guests” dressed in looks from the collection, the brand’s presentation was a mind-bending commentary on fashion as public spectacle. How’s that for turning industry standards on the head?
This might also explain creative director Demna Gvasalia’s recent obsession with anonymous all-black – 47 of the 63 looks in this collection were dominated by the colour. There’s exquisitely oversized tailoring; bombastic show dresses the brand calls “proto-couture”; draped and embroidered evening wear; streetwear and, of course, the bodysuits that Kim Kardashian has cemented as a modern Balenciaga signature.
Detroit, where the Italian label showed its latest Salon 03 collection, is a city of design. Its Modernist architecture, storied auto industry, and legacy as the cradle of techno music gave outgoing creative director Daniel Lee lots to think about. The result: a shift from sexy Berghain-admissible dresses and separates to more relaxed, unstructured workwear silhouettes.
The industrial aspect is further expressed through the choice of materials: metal and rubbery yarns woven into fabrics; parkas threaded with metal wires so they can be manipulated and reshaped. Then there are the accessories: moulded rubber bags, sneaker-slingback hybrids and baroque-style jewellery with rough, utilitarian finishes.
Going “industrial” can run the risk of drab sheet metal and factory lines, but the spin here has more to do with the hope and triumphs of design as a discipline.
The look of Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino is defined by his grandiose couture. Operatic shapes as wide as a doorway, feathered hats that float like jellyfish… how then to bring the viewer closer to the breathtaking action? This season’s Rendez-Vous collection is about making the couture spirit more everyday and accessible. The trappings of couture are treated coolly: fancy-gown fabrics like taffeta are washed and used on anoraks and oversized shirts; coats, shirts and blouses with delicate inlays of embroidery and broderie anglaise are offset against blue denim jeans.
Valentino’s remarkable techniques are not the focus here – it’s the person who’s wearing these beautiful things with some place to go. Piccioli closed the show by sending his troop of models out onto a Parisian street. Where could they be headed? To dinner? To meet a pal? To catch a show? It’s out and about where these clothes truly belong.
Creative director Anthony Vaccarello has dedicated this season’s collection to Paloma Picasso, arguably the house’s most unsung muse. She’s so important to the maison that Vaccarello describes her influence in show notes as “when Saint Laurent’s fashion creativity became a style”.
Picasso’s personal dressing quirks – a penchant for flea market finds; mixing masculine and feminine; and a general insouciance – inform the collection’s sublime tailoring, garish archival floral prints and napologetically sexy bodysuits. There are also smatterings of other Picasso-isms in the collection’s many reds – a reference to her lipstick colour of choice – and the nifty way she used to tuck a clutch down the front of her pants.
In Saint Laurent’s time, only one collection (Scandal, from 1971) was ever overtly dedicated to Picasso. Before it earned its controversial moniker, the collection was internally titled Liberation – a spirit that Vaccarello has picked up on to explore the limits of, in his words, “prescriptive good taste”.
“It’s a celebration,” artistic director Kim Jones says in the show notes for his second ready-to-wear collection at Fendi. That sums up this joyful outing, which hinges on a glamorous, modern disco look. Plenty of swishy silhouettes like kaftans, capes and fringed mini dresses, and shiny fabrics like lustrous silks, slick lame and pearlescent finishes to dazzle in.
But the big news here is a collaboration with the estate and archive of the late fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez. Lopez’s evocative drawings – of figures, abstract brush strokes, and a Fendi logo sketch – are applied using the Roman house’s vast array of techniques. Intricate lace and sparkling jacquards on ready-to-wear, tapestry weaving and leather intarsia on bags and shoes. It lends the collection a dreamy Studio 54 vibe that makes one yearn for the dance floor.
In Jones’ words: “Our woman has let loose a bit – she’s going out, dressing up.”
The horizon, the promise of things to come, of places to explore. Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski evoked those ideas with an airy, unrestrained collection for Hermes that appeases wandering minds. (It could also be read as a gracious response to the common pandemic refrain of “I want to travel again!”)
The key material used is silk, a brand signature that’s been transformed into double-faced knit separates; column and bustier dresses; lingerie-inspired crop tops; matching pleated sets and even a canvas-style mesh fabric. Many of these are printed with the Cliquetis pattern lifted from the house’s scarves, reinterpreted in watercolour and tattoo styles. The results drape and move like a dream. There are also crisp cotton poplins with a water-resistant finish – a hint that these clothes should be worn outdoors.
At the end of the show, held in a private airport last October, the doors behind the models were opened to reveal a runway (the aviation kind) with the tantalising sight of planes taking off. Now who else is ready for take-off?
There’s a gently nostalgic mood at Chanel this season. Artistic director Virginie Viard was drawn to the ’80s – a vibrant decade of fun, upbeat fashion. The ’80s were also the early days of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, who shook the dust off it by designing youthful, buoyant fashion.
“I used to love the sound of flashbulbs going off at the shows in the era,” says Viard of the memory. This inspired the show setup – a raised catwalk popular during the decade, with fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh parked at the end of it to snap dynamic images of the models in motion.
The nostalgia for fashion shows of the ’80s also inspired Viard to design a riviera-ready collection that makes one want to use “summer” as a verb. There are elegant bathing suits, tweed jackets worn with sequinned hot pants, deck chair stripes and the use of diaphanous fabrics that evoke the loose, airy feel of summer kaftans. No unwieldy concepts or unnecessary philosophising here, girls. Here is a collection that encourages a freewheeling spirit of twirling, posing, preening and simply enjoying fabulous outfits and, sometimes – especially in these times – that’s all we need.
Riccardo Tisci has started to really infuse personal signatures – sporty and sexy being key among them – into his designs for Burberry. This season’s Animal Instinct collection offers great examples. Think sporty, easy-to-move-in dresses that evoke the look of layered athletic jerseys. Or tailored jackets and trench coats with surprising – and provocative – slits on the back.
Even the earthy shades that the British house is known for (camel, birch, walnut, fawn) are refreshed with peppy accents of bubblegum pink, sunny yellow and vermillion red. Here’s how he sums up this new direction: “This presentation represents the freedom of our imaginations.”
This season, Miu Miu gives coming-of-age fashion a cheeky twist. The starting point was the uncomfortable vocabulary of uniforms – the rigidity of mandated school clothes; the awkward fit of dull, adult clothes for work; and the expectations to ditch the fripperies of childhood for grown-up sophistication. To hell with all that, Miuccia Prada seemed to say.
Instead of leaning in, Mrs Prada took a pair of shears and went to town. Hence the shirt and sweater sets that have been shorn into crop tops; and pants and skirts pulled so dangerously low that underwear waistbands are visible. For evening: embroidered and appliqued silks that look off-handedly vintage. The message: If you’re seeking prim and proper, the Miu Miu girl will offer it with a healthy dose of “gonna get my girls” (come on, sing it with us) defiance.
A version of this article first appeared in the March 2022 Liberation edition of FEMALE