Guest Post: Claudine Ivari S/S 2012 Paris

September 29, 2011 Claudine Ivari presented her Spring/Summer 2012 collection during Paris Fashion Week. Melissa Ladd of Prête-Moi-Paris attended the show in my place to report on this young French designer's debut in Paris.

Claudine Ivari SS2012

by Melissa Ladd

Set in the sumptuous and historic hôtel particulier on 79 bis avenue Marceau, Claudine Ivari's fashion show venue looks like something even a princess would daydream about! It is also the setting for her Paris Fashion Week debut. And what a place to show the world her talent...

The theme of her Spring 2012 collection, "L'Or des Moissons" (Harvest Gold), is the golden color of wheat and the weave of its form, as well as the graphic silhouette of the Hallgrimur Church in Reykjavik, Iceland. The entire collection is rampant with elegance and femininity, enough to make you swoon. The marrying of such a natural element (the golden wheat) to such a human made structure (the church) brought out a contrast that doesn't even look like one it blends together so well. Miss Ivari has an artist's eye for shape, design, and texture, and the ability to put them all together to create something that accents the feminine form to perfection. These pieces can be worn for decades to come. They are stunning, timeless, and sophisticated. In addition to her talent, she also has values. Her work is 100% Made in France.

   

Structure in Fragility: Amaya Arzuaga S/S12

What I Wore: Reformation open-back striped blouse,
JBrand skinnies, Aldo black wedges,
vintage pearl necklace worn as bracelet

As the sun set over the Seine, September 30th, we enjoyed a small Fashion Week apéritif before the Amaya Arzuaga show. We sipped the Spanish designer's very own Crianza red wine, Ribera Del Duero Amaya Arzuaga,  from her father's winery, Arzuaga Navarro. On the quay at the Cité de la Mode et du Design (the strange green building in the 13th arrondissement) models in sheer pastels, plunging necklines, and tubular silhouettes introduced Arzuaga's Spring/Summer 2012 collection. The collection is defined by 'plurality', the designer described, "Unity is built by the sum of many parts, structure is created from fragility, hiding some by overlaying, unveiling shapes, as if layers of reality create a new context for developing the natural use of materials." Displaying this structure from fragility, undulating, 'concentrically pressed pleats' made of silk and linen blends and double taffeta, and 'geometric patterns made out of raffia' streamed throughout the show. A single black line also coursed steadily with Arzuaga's technique of using bicolor axes. I particularly enjoyed the almost kissing pleated details, the use of accordion pleats on swimwear, and the overturned cone raffia dresses.

Ribera Del Duero Amaya Arzuaga Crianza 2008

Accordion Pleated Swimsuit. Love.

Anne Valérie Hash S/S12

Marie Petrakova Wooden Platforms

Anne Valérie Hash presented her Spring/Summer 2012 collection - Blue tangerine - at the Jeu de Paume in the Jardins des Tuileries on September 30, 2011. Once housing the tennis courts of Napoleon III, this now art museum's blank walls awaited the impressionistic designs of AVH. Whitewash walls absorbed the delicate cotton chiffon, linen voile, silk, and taffeta color melanges of tangerine, Klein blue, pomegranate, powder, sand, and smoky blue. 

The towering fairies wore menswear structures that contradicted themselves with flowing design details such as soft folds on low slung trousers, or chiffon capes attached at the shoulder and wrist, which bloomed behind the models as they tiptoed down the runway on amazing wooden platforms by Marie Petrakova. "Anne Valérie Hash's woman builds a new elegance in soberness. The balance of the silhouette lies in the contrast between draping and vertical lines" described the collection information packet. Although dresses weren't the stars of the collection, nonetheless, AVH created an elegantly structured yet beautifully feminine show.

For pictures from the show...