Haute Couture, summer 2019: Down with uniforms!

Drake showed off his trophies at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday (May 21).

Jean Paul Gaultier is paying homage to Pierre Cardin. The star couturier of the 1960s was the inventor of high-concept, theatrical fashion shows and took Gaultier under his wing when he was just 18, nurturing the talent who would come to be known as the "enfant terrible" of fashion.

Haute Couture, summer 2019: Down with uniforms!

Christian Dior creative designer Maria Grazia Chiuri says the nearly all-black dresses in the brand's latest Haute Couture collection in Paris on Monday are 'essential' so that people can look at the clothes 'like a project that you can personalize' in a comfortable way.

Haute Couture, winter 2019/2020: Digital innovation no substitute for couture workshops.

Back in January, Paris was once again the global hub of haute couture, providing the backdrop for the summer’s couture collections. It’s an art form out of reach for most budgets. But, at its best, it can carry powerful messages about artistic and economic freedom. At Julien Fournié and Alexandre Vauthier, it’s all about turning a dream into reality through the client and their couturier working together. Meanwhile, at Franco-Turkish fashion house Dice Kayek, founder Ece Ege explains how couture helps women in the industry stand on their own two feet.

In an online message to mark the start of Paris Fashion Week, British supermodel Naomi Campbell ushered in a new age of digital fashion, while also embracing the goals of the Black Lives Matter movement. In these extraordinary times due to Covid-19, runway fashion shows are banned, with designers instead releasing videos on social media to showcase their collections, directed by an array of impressive names. We take a look at how this form of French soft power is moving with the times.

French fashion house Chanel chose an intimate family-like atmosphere for its Spring-Summer 2021 Haute Couture show, with models strutting under flower arches at a socially-distanced presentation with a few famous faces.

Haute couture at its best is a dazzling array of possibilities. It's also increasingly an artform being expressed through the medium of film, with in-person fashion shows still off-bounds thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato has embraced new techniques both inspired and showcased by model-turned-activist Lauren Wasser, who lost both her legs to toxic shock syndrome. Meanwhile, Italy's Sofia Crociani finds inspiration in cognitive experiments from the 1950s and '60s that tracked the effect of LSD on spiders.

Thread, the primary building block for any piece of clothing, is increasingly inspiring a number of fashion labels. At Dior, Maria-Grazia Chiuri experiments with a new tweed made from cashmere, while Indian designer Vaishali Shadangule creates her own fabrics from scratch as part of her homage to the power of nature. And Parisian designer Clara Daguin explores the intersection between science and mysticism through her beguiling use of fibre optic threads.

Next winter's haute couture offerings are as concerned with protecting our oceans as they are about showcasing the best of ancestral savoir-faire. Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad rubs shoulders with Kerby Jean-Raymond, the first Black American to be invited to present his collection in Paris. Plus, the likes of Christophe Josse and Chanel celebrate the artistic accomplishments of their artisans, while Iris van Herpen embarks on a thrilling collaboration with Domitille Kiger, the French freeflying world champion!

From Grace Kelly's granddaughter Charlotte Casiraghi bucking catwalk trends on a horse, to Valentino's relatable curvy and mature models in sublime garments and tributes to the king of couture Thierry Mugler, fashion specialist Jennifer Ben Brahim speaks to Eve Jackson about Paris's Haute Couture Week.