When someone said I lived in fantasy land I nearly fell off my unicorn. I am every so slightly fascinated by everything topsy turvy, a way of living that I have tied into the mundanes of reality. An element that transcends boundaries, if they exist at all, at Paris Fashion Week Mens (PFWM) and Paris Fashion Week (PFW) alike, thanks to Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing.

Paris Men’s

Having attended the previous seasons of this luscious line, Balmain‘s Olivier Rousteing reinforced the classics of the tight pants and short military jackets, sprinkled with metal and glittery embelishments for the winter seasons. With an obsession for sparkle, I was enviably taking visual cues for my wardrobe, despite an almost unanimously black and white theme, saturated with oversized asymmetric outerwear, slit shirts, and countless slimming jackets. The gender neutrality of it was relevant to the gender fluid era that was being catered to, evident from the overwhelming ‘freedom’ motto through quotes and styles. There was very much tweed and checkerboards, with opera-style eyewear and gauzy sweaters with casual hoodies and tie-dye tops worn with distressed jackets and blazers. One section of silhouettes sported light denims and casual jackets, while another borderlined S&M with black leather harnesses strapped at chests and waists, some sporting iPhones as an ode to tech! The transition to greys was stark, with the suit remixes being more of a stretch than the silver monochrome loose fits, but I quite liked the splattered plaster punk style outfits, especially the ones with quotes along the lines of I hope s(he) is into boys, further bringing to light the unisexuality of the era we live in. I found out after the show that the collection was called “You know my name, you don’t know my story”, which was the epitome of my own life.

Paris Women’s Couture

For women’s wearability was quite out of the question with outfits that one could barely sit in. Focusing on geometry, the pastel dipped collection was complete with actual cuboids and countless ballooning spheres. The colors, however, were all watercolor hued with dollops of shimmer and graffiti, which made for a soothing collection. Individually, several pieces shown through well, like a fray white jacket and stiff pearl mini skirt, or a white dress made of glass like pears and a plethora of bustiers. The oversized ruffle gowns that missed the bustier entirely, alongside a flock of feathery jackets were more out there for the likes of Gaga, with a futuristic squarish top and upholstered shoulder padded cuboidal jackets being quite out of the wearability quotient. What I did enjoy the most was the effort that went into the embelishments, with literally every model sporting heavy duty weights of Swarowski crystals, beads, stones, and metal wiring. 

Images by WWD.