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| Photo Credit: AP. |
PARIS (AP) — It was as much art fair as fashion show for Stella McCartney, who put on an art-infused spring collection at Paris Fashion Week on Monday that vibrated with flashes of color.
Iconic
Japanese contemporary artist Yoshitomo Nara collaborated on the designs
showcased at Paris’ Pompidou Center Modern Art Museum, while art megastar Jeff Koons
casually popped in to say ‘hello’ to McCartney post-show, peering at her
comically across an atelier of world-famous sculptures by Constantin Brancusi.
The display
also pioneered the use of regenerative cotton.
Here are
some highlights of spring-summer 2023 collections:
STELLA GOES ARTSY
A yellow,
red and blue carpeted runway dazzled VIP guests for McCartney’s show in the
outdoor courtyard of Paris’ Pompidou Center — a set created in homage to the
art museum’s famous colored, structuralist exterior.
This
vibrancy continued in the spring fare that was typically fluid and sporty, with
moments of bright color.
This season,
chic garments such as asymmetrical white minidresses cut on the bias, or tight
pink scuba tops with a scooped side silhouette, were to become the canvas for
Nara’s vivid imagination.
On the front
of them, the Japanese artist had created striking images of big-eyed girls and
children in animal costumes — which the house described as “sinister.”
The most-fun
looks were in all-out-color, such as a stiff looking chalky yellow scuba top
and pant look accessorized with bouncy black flip-flops and a blown up handbag.
That cut a
fine look against the bright yellow catwalk and had fashion insiders reaching
for their cameras.
ECO-MCCARTNEY MAKES REGENERATIVE COTTON
Speaking
backstage after a brief greet with her supportive Beatles father Paul
McCartney, Stella said she was “chuffed” that this spring collection set a
house record for being 87% sustainable.
“It’s my
most sustainable yet. I hope nothing was sacrificed; you shouldn’t see any of
the sustainability — it should still look luxurious,” she said, to the group of
nodding editors amid the sound of popping champagne.
Since her
house was acquired by luxury giant LVMH, McCartney has also taken up a lobbying
role inside the company for it to be more eco-aware. This season, one of the
fruits of that appeared on the runway. The designer said LVMH has paid for a
three-year pilot to make regenerative cotton — grown in ways that maintain the
health of the soil.
She said
that the process “captures carbon in the soil” and “encourages nature as
opposed to destroying it with pesticides.”
Elaborating
on her advisory role inside the world’s biggest luxury group, McCartney
described it as bringing a “positive impact,” especially having CEO Bernard
Arnault on the front row seeing up close the success of eco-friendly
ready-to-wear.
“He’s not
stupid — it filters in,” she said. “He can look at all of those bags and all of
those shoes and all of those non-leather jackets and he can compare between his
other houses and see that there is no sacrifice visually.”