Paris Fashion Week round-up: Oliveira Baptista leads tributes to Kenzo Takada; Matthew Williams debut for Givenchy; Schiaparelli’s sexy hybrid couture/ready-to-wear collection

Oct 8 , 2020

A look from Givenchy’s latest spring/summer 20/21 collection, launched at 2020’s Paris Fashion week. Photo: Givenchy

Digital launches and distanced, masked audiences greeted important spring/summer launch shows; including Matthew Williams’ Givenchy debut, inspired by archival designs, while Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry channelled femininity with an angular black bodice and suggestive gold buttons – and the sudden death of Kenzo Takada continued to cast a sorry pall over Paris

Paris Fashion Week was upended on Sunday (October 4) by the sudden news of Kenzo Takada’s death at age 81. Reports say Takada died from Covid-19 complications, and members of the fashion world were quick to unite in paying tribute to the iconic Japanese designer.

Like Milan before it, the coronavirus pandemic has forced Paris to undertake an unusual fashion season for spring-summer 2021. The nine-day calendar is flitting between 16 ready-to-wear runway collections with masked guests in seated rows, 20 in-person presentations and several dozen completely digital shows streamed online with promotional videos.

One of Sunday’s highlights was storied maison Givenchy’s unveiling of new designer Matthew Williams’ debut collection. But the brand will have hoped such an important plot line would have begun in better days and not during a virus-hit Paris Fashion Week.

Givenchy’s new designer

A look from Givenchy’s SS20/21 collection. Photos: Givenchy

There was a palpable excitement around Givenchy’s opulent Avenue Montaigne atelier on Sunday as Matthew Williams greeted editors to show off his debut collection, some four months after being named the replacement to Clare Waight Keller.

For a 34-year-old, Williams has quite a resume – after having designed for Kanye West and Lady Gaga, and having founded the influential urban fashion house 1017 ALYX 9SM.

A look from Givenchy’s SS20/21 collection. Photo: Givenchy