Cardi B, Teyana Taylor and Bad Bunny brave Paris heat • FRANCE 24 English

Hello and welcome to Arts24, where we're taking a spin around the autumn-winter couture collections presented in Paris. Well, to tell us more, I'm joined by fashion reporter Alice Feufer. Hello, Alice.

Hi. Let's start with the big French houses, where new artistic directors have been making themselves at home, including Mathieu Blaisie. He seems to be more than comfortable in his new role, in his element there at Chanel.

That's right. He only arrived a year and a half ago, and there's already a word for him, which is called Blaisie-mania. So there's been Phoebe-mania, there's been Margiela-mania, and it's basically the fever around him.

So it's people lining up in New York and Paris, waiting for his collections that are actually gone in 48 hours. So he's already called within just a few minutes. Wow.

HR department of Chanel must be very happy. Well, let's get a look at that fairy tale collection from Chanel. Well, it certainly looks like he's created a magical, enchanted garden.

Alice, tell us about that collection. So the decor was actually inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk, I think it's called, Jacques et le Haricot Magique. And it was immersive, but huge to the point that guests felt tiny and almost looked like insects within their decorum.

And inside came clothing that was actually packed with details, like beans with pearls inside that were citing the decorum. But in contrast, the clothes were actually surprisingly wearable. So you have that magic, and inside you have tweed suits, you have little black jackets.

So it's, to me, reminiscent of Karl Argerfeld, who would do collections that were XXL in terms of size and communications, but actually things women wanted to wear. Right. And he didn't end with a bridal gown, I believe.

Ended with? He says he ended with a revenge gown. There's actually something that looked like a bridal gown within the looks, but the end was a revenge dress in honour of Coco Chanel, who never got married.

Ah, little black dress, of course. Very chic. One for our inner child, that collection, then, perhaps.

Well, now to possibly the only guest who turned down their invitation to Taylor Swift's wedding, Jonathan Anderson. He might have designed her bridal gown, but that event in New York clashed with the Dior Couture Show here in Paris, where he sent models down a botanical garden-themed catwalk. Take a look.

So, Alice, what was your takeaway from Jonathan Anderson's collection for Dior? Well, it's an interesting challenge because he comes after Maria Grazia Curie, who did feminist-inspired fashion for 10 years, and also known for surrealist things he did for L'OEV. And now, I think he's going to the archives of Christian Dior himself, who loved his garden, who, and after the war in 1950, started designing the new look with small hips and waist that he called corolles, like petals.

So, he is going for a naturalist grammar, which is, in fact, something that's always been in the house, and it's without taking too many risks, I think, which is useful for now because it can talk to women of all ages. It's not just Instagram-friendly. It's actually something Couture customers can wear.

And it talks to all areas of the house without clashing with the era before, I would say. So, Couture, but, again, tame for someone who once designed her tomato clutches, you know. Indeed, quite wearable compared to that.

And Balenciaga's show was a hot ticket this season as well. Pierre Paolo Petrilli settling in there as its new creative director. What direction do you think he's taking the house in?

He's interesting for me because he comes after Dinak Vazelya, who was cult, but also who did something that was, for me, designed for, almost designed for Instagram, you know. So, he would do high-heeled crocs. He would do a plastic bag as an item, which confused the audience at the time because it was, is it Couture?

Is it a meme? And for now, I think he's going back to ball gown dresses. He's going back to cocoon shapes, to things that are good for red carpet, to sort of old Hollywood.

And, again, he's talking to people who actually wear Couture, which would be actresses and not people doing memes, probably. Well, yeah, and the stars, celebrities, were definitely out in force at his show there. As we can see, we saw Demi Moore, Cynthia Erivo.

Bad Bunny was also out and about in Paris this week in a double-breasted suit. He looked quite warm because it has been extremely hot in Paris. How have the celebrities been staying cool?

It's so funny because now, most of the show is actually just the front row. So, everyone, including myself, is basically just filming people reacting to the looks going by. So, now, most of them are already wearing the clothes that you see on the runway, but also have to find, like, a chic way of fanning themselves because France has no AC.

So, whether it's a lycée, whether it's the opera, some have handheld fans, others have designer fans. Other used show notes and other fans, the dog. And Parker Posey arrived at Dior and she was wearing, like, a full umbrella because she just didn't want to interact with the sun at all.

Perhaps that's the only way. So, it's part of the show. Yeah, perfect polish under these sweltering temperatures.

Well, to another designer now known for his celebrity following, the late Gianni Versace dressed Madonna, Mariah Carey and even Lady Diana. Now, a major retrospective of his work is on show at Paris' Musée Maiol. A chance to see how the Italian designer rewrote the rules of glamour, femininity and what luxury could be.

Charlotte Lamb takes a look. Before streetwear, before fast fashion, before the algorithm told you what to wear, there was him. Paris' Musée Maiol is hosting the first major Gianni Versace retrospective in 40 years, bringing visitors face-to-face with these iconic creations and the legends who wore them. 120 looks, 11 themes and exclusive items never seen before.

Among those first through the door, an old friend of the designer. I think Paris was for him a kind of dream because it's so different to Milan. And he really felt good in Paris and therefore he wanted to be with the Haute Couture.

And the first one he made in Paris was in a Gaze d'Orsay. And it was very simple. And then he jumped into Hotel Ritz and it was glamorous.

Gianni Versace would have turned 80 in December this year. Born in Calabria, trained in his family's workshop, he went on to rewrite the rules of what luxury could look like. Louder, bolder, unapologetically alive.

He understood early what other designers took decades to learn. That fashion and music spoke the same language. Rock stars, pop icons, hip-hop royalty.

They all wore Versace and the world paid attention. He created surprises for the audience, for the buyers. And in this year, they asked him, how will your next collection become?

And he said, very punk, because punk is joy. It became the so-called punk collection. It springs down in 1994.

This exhibition traces everything that fed the machine. The beauty of the Catholic Church, Greek sculpture, Italian opera and a deep obsession with the Baroque. In this collection, he had a lot of lace, surprisingly.

Versace was murdered in Miami in 1997, at just 50 years old. But his work outlived the man entirely. And walking among it now, in a city he loved, you can almost feel him in the room.

I think that, depending on the stage of his life, well, I'm not going to speak for him, but you can clearly see through these works that he's evolving, finding inspiration, changing and associating with different people. All of this comes through in the exhibition. The perfect destination for those who lived through fashion's golden age, and for those who continue to be inspired by it today.

The exhibition runs until September 6th. Indeed, Versace had been absent from the couture calendar in recent years, but the label says it will be showing in Paris in 2027 under its new artistic director, Pieter Moulier. Alice, what about other newcomers this season?

Did any debuts stand out for you? He's a newcomer and he's not. I actually really like Bolloria, which is the new house run by Olivier Tesquien.

I don't know if you remember him, but he's a Belgian designer who once called the Gothic Prince of Couture. He was once a creative director of Rochas and Ninarici and Theory in New York, and now he's back. He showed The Day Before Couture, and it's a mix of 19th century Flemish paintings and a rave, I think.

It was almost everything is in black, ultra techno, and it was hugely enjoyable, and it's men and women. And he has stuck to what he's done forever, and I think it was a huge success. Yeah, and an up-and-coming label from Ireland showing this year.

I also really enjoyed Standing Ground, which is designed by Michael Stewart, who is Irish, who is based in London and won the LVMH Prize, the Savoir Faire Prize, in 2024. It's his first couture collection, and he wants to showcase Irish Savoir Faire, and is also a fan of Alien and Lord of the Rings. So it's a mix of Irish lace and, like, fantasy.

Fantasy and not goblins, but almost. And it was sci-fi and ancient at the same time. I thought it was brilliant.

Sounds fantastic. Well, moving on to something now that you flagged up, bold sculptural looks from Hong Kong designer Robert Woon. These look particularly fabulous.

What did you love about this collection? I love that you wonder what couture is in the end. Is it a moment for art?

Is it performance art? With him, it's not in this world anymore. So Cardi B came in wearing, was it cocoon?

Was it orange eggs? There was a model entirely covered in birds. He's designed for eight celebrities for the Met Gala this year, I think, including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga.

And it's just spectacular. It's almost like an era of couture that doesn't exist anymore. I don't know how he, what the business model is, but it's incredible pieces to look at because it's really museum-worthy.

Thank you very much for that roundup of the fashion shows, Alice. We'll leave you with a look at some of those spectacular creations from Robert Woon. Remember to check out our website and our social media for more arts and culture here on France 24.

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