Fake Animal Heads Cause Outrage at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week

PARIS It’s ten a.m. on a cold Monday morning, the first day of the haute couture show, and Kylie Jenner is pacing the marble hall of the Petit Palais trying to find her seat for Schiaparelli, clad in pointed stilettos and a black velvet one-sleeve gown, a full-size tawny lion’s head protrudes from the side. It was as if Aslan had taken a break from Narnia and was sticking his snout through the space-time continuum under his armpits. Or maybe it’s Bring Your Stuffed Toys to Work Day?

No: It’s a dress so hot on the runway that it hasn’t even hit the runway yet despite its imminent arrival, along with a strapless faux fur sheath with a snow leopard’s head sticking out of the chest, its mouth hanging open amid a roar. , and a large shaggy black silk and wool coat with a wolf’s muzzle rose from the shoulders.

Painstakingly sculpted from resin, hand-painted in a couture atelier, the faux animal heads are supposed to represent the vices of Dantes Inferno’s lust, pride, greed according to designer Schiaparelli Daniel Roseberry. He used the poem as a metaphor for his own experiences with the pressure to create new ones; to make everyone sit in wonder.

To carve out space in the attention economy. If social media and the red carpet are the flames of fame, says Mr. Roseberry, couture has become fashion gasoline: pour it on and the flames get hotter. This is the formation of culture, he said. Or a stirring rage. These days, the two ideas can seem one and the same (report under provocation).

So fake animal heads collided with real animal rights and Jenner/Kardashian customs, and for a few moments there was an explosion engulfing the entire Digisphere. Do the displays promote the hunting of big game, even if they don’t come from the wild, or do they celebrate the beauty of the wild, as PETA has stated, and facilitate anti-trophy hunting dialogue? Are they really a metaphor for chasing the rich hunting them down, eating them, selling them to them or is it a ploy gone wrong?

Objectively, they’re kind of ridiculous, and the whole hoo-ha is close to surreal (which makes sense for Schiaparelli, a house rooted in surrealism). Yet their viral ubiquity, they also set the tone for the week, and the shows that opened after.

It’s not just that Chanel also has an animal theme, courtesy of artist Xavier Veilhan, who created a giant movable plywood bestiary for the set, in reference to Coco’s favorite zoo. But as the urge to capture not only hearts and minds but eyeballs can explain designer Virginie Viards in addition to bewildering the addition of a circus master’s bow tie and top hat to her flirty boucl skirt suit; a narrow coat that swept across the floor; and drop-waisted chiffon and fur skirts.

Also an upgrade to Giambattista Vallis’ rose-colored taffeta and tulle creation, which looks a lot like a sugar plum fairy on steroids. Maybe even the harlequin Giorgio Armanis 77 iteration.

Once upon a time couture was the closed world of a teeny tiny segment of fashion designed to showcase handmade art, governed by mysterious terms and prices so high they were accessible to only a very few: the apocryphal 200 global clients willing to pay the equivalent of an entry-level annual salary (and taller) for a dress that most of the world will never see. Prices justified by artistry, know-how, and the idea that what couture designers do cascades into other people’s wardrobes.

Prepandemic, the party line is that couture is a social media safe space, because it demands the intimacy of a personal experience. However, now, supported by the views of global people, it is starting to change into something else. Darwin would understand.

Of course, there are still those who love the mysteriously crafted subtleties that reek of indescribable ease: the gold fil Bar coup jacket and straight skirt that Maria Grazia Chiuri offers at Dior that somehow manage to maintain their proper shape without the bony interior; the coat of his crumbling velvet bathrobe gleamed with sumptuous immodesty. In the preview, Ms. Chiuri says she was inspired by the story of former Dior client Josephine Baker, and her set is wrapped in a painting by American artist Mickalene Thomas of 13 women of color breaking barriers. It could be heavy, but the collection only takes 1920s lines, slight Jazz Age decadence is woven into the fabric, the result sitting lightly on the body.

Such an understatement has its own power, even in a time when names are bolded in pursuit of the seemingly extraordinary.

But it’s the desire to be, says Jordan Roth, theatrical impresario, collector and occasional model, a singular work of art on feet, that keeps couture especially in January, when awards season is in full swing (and the ultimate spot for celebrity dress hunting). ; seeing the crowd outside the venue, which is nothing like the crowd outside a concert venue, screaming and waving their smartphones). A popular game has become to guess who will wear what to the Oscars/BAFTAs/Csars. Everyone can play.

At Dior, chances are that a fully embroidered hooded sleeveless gown in shimmering gold and silver thread, jewel-tone velvet channeling sirens languidly shrouded over a piano, is just around the corner on a red carpet near you. Ditto Chanels openwork white lace number with a hint of glistening gold embroidery on the neckline.

As for best actress nominee Michelle Yeoh, the front row at Armani Priv, can choose from among all the diamonds and ruffs sprinkled over the collection that range from court jester to Picasso via trousers that flap additional fabric fins on the sides, caviar-bead cropped jackets and glitter sequined dresses, there are less complicated options.

But the danger in today’s one-upmanship game is that clothing sometimes gets ridiculous. Di Schiaparelli, Ms. Jenner (who also sits front row at Maison Margiela, where John Galliano unveiled his patented recycled brand by bringing together tulle, tartan, fishing net, Mickey Mouse and Pendleton outerwear) and his lion head successfully overshadowed not only Doja Cat, which arrives with 30,000 ruby ​​crystals​​is like a sort of migr from the Avatar-themed Met Gala, but also the fact that any part of the collection approaches majesty.

The opening look jacket, for example, is made of hundreds of inlaid sequins tracing the silhouette of a perfume bottle, over simple black pants. A pin-striped trouser suit that plays with proportions so that the shoulders stand out creating the illusion of a Mr. Pearl, but without the rearranged organs. A chest plate made of abalone, precious stones, and a lemonwood mat rises up towards the throat and stretches out a crystal clear material.

Once all the smoke from the wild royal controversy has cleared, it’s a reminder that sometimes, when you pour gasoline on a fire, you risk getting burned.