Paris Fashion Week: Hermès’ unmemorable modernism upstaged by Bella Hadid’s bare-all turn for Vivienne Westwood

Mar 2 , 2020

Elie Saab, Vivienne Westwood and Hermès went head-to-head at Paris Fashion Week with very divergent ready-to-wear womenswear collection unveiled for autumn-winter 2020-21. Photos: Xinhua, Reuters

A-list model Hadid shocked in see-through, Marie Antoinette-ish lace, while Elie Saab’s monochrome femininity clashed with Hermès’ Mondrian-inspired boxy, geometric coloured lines

A singer at Vivienne Westwood’s eco-minded Paris Fashion Week show serenaded guests about fighting for the environment on Saturday. Elie Saab presented a 70s-inspired study in the bow collar. And Agnès B. cancelled her show scheduled for Monday (March 2) in response to the coronavirus – the first such move by a French designer. Here are some highlights of autumn-winter ready-to-wear shows for 2020.

Hermès’ sanitised modernism

A model presents a creation by Hermès in Paris. Photo: Xinhua

White Modernist poles – with coloured panels that evoked painter Piet Mondrian – were chosen by designer Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski as the backdrop of her autumn collection for powerhouse Hermès.

The French designer, who’s often been called a minimalist, used the Mondrian musing as the starting point for a retro and geometric collection. At times, it had a strong sanitised feel.

Coloured panels that evoked painter Piet Mondrian gave the Hermès autumn-winter 2020-21 collection a sanitised feel. Photo: Xinhua

The all-white coat – redolent of the science laboratory – opened the show, with its long column silhouette and a storm-flap-style shoulder panels. But this then gave way to bold colour: loose, layered knee-length dresses in cadmium blue, green-cyan and vivid red.

Stripes were abundant: in belts, or a retro turtleneck sweater with black suspenders. Geometric prints and shapes, meanwhile, fluttered on silk dresses.

Geometric prints and shapes, meanwhile, fluttered on silk dresses, in Hermès autumn-winter 2020-21 collection. Photo: Xinhua.

Vanhee-Cybulski’s references echoed back to Yves Saint Laurent, who fused Mondrian with fashion in his 1965 collection by adapting the artist’s geometric abstractions to dresses. Here, the Hermès designer has produced a fine collection, if lacking a little in punch.