Pierpaolo Piccioli champions female emancipation with loose-fitting Balenciaga collection

"New names at Dior and Chanel have generated the most noise at this Paris fashion week, but it was Balenciaga's debut that brought the media storm with a front row coup: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, making her first European appearance in three years. On Saturday night in Paris, Dior, Chanel and Lauren Sanchez, who also attended the show were all outdone for razzle dazzle. Meghan, Dutchess of Sussex, brought razzle dazzle to Balenciaga's Paris show."

"Until that point, the mood music around Pierpaolo Piccioli's debut had felt relatively serene. Balenciaga is a venerated house, and Piccioli a world-leading designer, but he is also beloved for being the nicest man in fashion, and it was assumed that catwalk stunts had left the Balenciaga building with the departure of provocateur designer Demna for Gucci. But even nice guys pull surprises sometimes, and the royal benediction turned up the hoopla."

"Intriguingly, the theme of Piccioli's manifesto, as he described the collection backstage, was female emancipation. His starting point was Cristobal Balenciaga's 1957 sack dress, a silhouette that sits proud of the body to neither amplify nor constrict a woman's curves. The look was a radical expression of a zeitgeist that was beginning to shift from 1950s conservatism towards the 1960s, said Piccioli."

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, made her first European appearance in three years at Balenciaga's Paris show, significantly increasing media attention. The event outshone other high-profile attendees such as Dior, Chanel and Lauren Sanchez. Pierpaolo Piccioli's debut emphasized sculptural, body-independent shapes and revived Balenciaga's iconic silhouettes, including cocoon coats. The collection centered on female emancipation and referenced Cristobal Balenciaga's 1957 sack dress, a silhouette that sits proud of the body to neither amplify nor constrict curves. The sack dress was framed as a radical marker of social change, freeing women from clothes that emphasize the body's contours.

Read at www.theguardian.com