wonderful. down. linear. purity. calm down.
These are just a few of the words designer Haider Ackermann used to describe his upcoming couture collection with Jean Paul Gaultier. Gaultier, a unique guest designer in his atelier, Wednesday’s show, his fourth in his program, is one of his most anticipated shows of the season.
In fact, this concept has become one of the major challenges of Paris Couture Week. His Sacai collaboration, the project’s debut, helped reinvigorate interest in the brand’s ergonomic classics. Y/Project and Diesel designer Glenn Martens’ denim fanatic made Red her carpet hazards aspirational (and brought us Chloe Sevigny’s wedding her dress!). And Olivier Rousteing’s work has produced some of the most breathtaking and celebrated pieces of his career. This is not an audition, nor is it a test to see if a designer’s vision matches the Maison’s ‘code’, but the Parisian couture uses all the resources of his atelier to get the designer hooked on the creativity department. It’s a chance to become Collections tend to spill over well beyond the confines of a typical couture week fair, putting Martens’ name in the mix for large designer appointments, for example, and socializing about what the next guest designer might look like. sparking anticipation for weeks in the media. It’s like a couture one-night stand.
“I don’t even understand his generosity,” said Ackermann. “Because if that was my name, I would be very in control.” He laughed. “And the fact that he’s been given this kind of freedom and can give us all discretion….” He stepped back. “I don’t think I can do this.” They had lunch together, and Ackermann said he tried to bring up once or twice what he wanted to do with couture. But Gaultier was not interested. So the only job I have to do is make him honorable and proud on Wednesday. ”
Wearing a black t-shirt and his usual tinted lenses for an interview, Ackermann is one of fashion’s most elegant and stunning figures.you he terrible, with his mustache and sunglasses and his ingenious tailoring. He cites his designers Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano as fans of the eponymous brands he has designed for over 20 years. He is also known for his wild tastes in Tilda Swinton and Timothée Chalamet, Red. I was. (Regarding the relationship between the two stars, he said, “We have an immeasurable luxury that we can simply agree on,” about what’s great.) He rushed to finish the collection on Sunday. Spoken, he was cheerful and serious, but unflappable. Like Gaultier, in fact, he is a bit mischievous. He at some point began to ruminate on how great it would be to create another Gaultier his couture his collection, how deep and wild it would get. Then he stopped and laughed: “Why am I saying this?”
Tilda Swinton wore one of Ackermann’s designs at the Venice Film Festival in September.
Ackermann called looking at Gaultier’s past works and finding parallels with himself an “interesting exercise”. Gaultier, on the other hand, is known for his maximalism and provocation, and for pulling references from clothing traditions around the world. I took it out and wondered.
When he explored Gaultier’s archives, “I found myself a lot closer to him than I expected.” You might think of bold patterns that clash. “There are too many happenings and too many stylings,” said Ackermann. Seeing these works up close, he “appreciated the architecture and the pattern makers and all the work and all the details. Wow….”
The designer with friend Timothée Chalamet in Ackermann’s designs at the Venice Film Festival last September.
His tailoring for his couture debut in 1997 was particularly outstanding. Elemental or understated senses might surprise even the long-time Gotelier head. “I wanted to touch a piece that was so calm, so calm, so linear, so pure. When I take off all the styling and everything, I get this touch of purity that he used to do. intend to.
When asked what is possible in couture, as opposed to ready-to-wear, he referred to the bolero, from Gaultier’s debut couture collection, with giant parrot feathers on the shoulder.
This kind of feather is no longer used in couture, but the atelier helped him realize something similar. “all people [in the atelier] Because they spend so many hours and minutes and so many hours on small stitches. ”
The hopes of fashion fans and insiders alike is that the project will add to Ackermann’s aura and open up new opportunities for him with his own brand and elsewhere. (Owned by Belgian fashion entrepreneur Anne Chapelle until Ann Demeulemeester sold it to Italian fashion mogul Claudio Antonioli just over two years ago.) . The designer hasn’t presented a collection since before the pandemic. Louis Vuitton’s menswear lead and Gucci’s top job could have Ackermann’s name mixed in with designer chair season, especially after Wednesday’s debut of feathery pure couture. I have.
“With age, the older you get, the more dust you push off your shoulders,” Ackermann reflected. “I mean, you’re looking for a kind of purity, and something more gentle. And I think we live in a world that’s already screaming. So much. It’s so loud. Being able to hold back and be silent – I think that’s a very luxurious thing to do. Shout out to others.
Rachel Tashjian is fashion news director. Harper’s Bazaar, works on both print and digital platforms.formerly she GQHe was the first fashion critic and deputy editor-in-chief. garage and as a writer vanity fairShe has written for publications including book forum When art forumand author of the invite-only newsletter Opulent Tips.
