Doja Cat and Haute Couture Designers Bring Flair to Paris Fashion Week

It may be cold and dreary outdoors, but things are bursting with life on the catwalks of Paris, and it gives even the darkest winter days a sense of hope and excitement. For the Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture shows for spring/summer 2023, it wasn’t just journalists and fashionistas out in full force – the celebrities also descended upon Paris for a few days of incredible shows.

Most notable was Doja Cat, an American rapper who attended the Schiaparelli couture show at the Petit Palais covered in red body paint and 30,000 Swarovski crystals painstakingly applied for five hours by British makeup artist Pat McGrath.

 

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Here are some of our favorite shows from the catwalks.

Chanel

The house of Chanel is known for its endlessly chic styles and evergreen glamour, and this year’s Chanel haute couture show brought chicness and glamour to the runway. Virginie Viard, the creative director of Chanel, reportedly took some inspiration from Coco Chanel’s apartment on Rue Cambon for the show. Chanel’s apartment contained statues of animals, like giraffes and camels, which were incorporated into the setting of this year’s show.

Viard’s haute couture collection capitalized on the house’s iconic tweed styles and jackets, and also used black hats on many models. Creams, whites, light pinks, and greys were heavy in the rotation when it came to color. White gloves and calf-high white boots were spotted on many of the models.

 

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Schiaparelli

Daniel Roseberry, the creative director of Schiaparelli, brought an absolute powerhouse of a show to the table. And Doja Cat’s 30,000 red crystals were just the beginning. The American designer, who spent over a decade at Thom Browne, created a truly wild and stunning show. He was inspired by Dante’s Inferno when he was developing the show and incorporated replicas of wild animals to be a part of it. Roseberry wrote on Instagram, “3 animals sculpted and embroidered by hand, celebrating the glory of nature and guarding the woman who wears it. The leopard, the lion, and the she wolf. All from Dante’s Inferno.”

Iconic supermodel Naomi Campbell walked the show wearing a black fur coat with a she-wolf emerging from the shoulder. It was a show unlike any other. From the start, when Italian fashion designer founded Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, the company celebrated eccentricity, surrealism, and a sort of wildness. It’s nice to see Roseberry sticking to the founder’s original vision. Roseberry is reported in Vogue as saying his ambition for the show was to “show the impossible.” Suffice it to say he accomplished just that!

 

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Armani Privé

At Armani Privé, stars were out in full force. Most notable was Malaysian-Chinese actress and Oscar nominee, Michelle Yeoh. Additionally, French actress Juliette Binoche was on hand to lend her support as well. And French actor Lucas Bravo, who plays the male lead in the popular Netflix series Emily in Paris, was also at the Armani show, looking dapper in a navy suit and long navy jacket.

The show was an explosion of color and fun. It almost seemed circus-like, in a glam way. Models had huge, beaded flowers on their chests, large dangling earrings, layers upon layers of fabric (almost clown-like), and dazzling jewelry in geometric shapes and shiny bright colors. However, the theme was not “circus,” as some – like myself – might have mistaken; the theme was harlequins, the comic servants found in commedia dell’arte known for their colorful checkered costumes. Keeping with the theme, even the runway was painted with diagonally shaped checkered images. This haute couture collection was full of color and life. I’d harbor a guess that we may be seeing some of these harlequin-inspired gowns on red carpets soon when the Oscars come.

 

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Christian Dior

Christian Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, was inspired by iconic American-in-Paris performer Josephine Baker, who left her mark on the world in countless ways. Vogue reports how Chiuri found archival photos of Baker performing in New York wearing Dior couture in 1951 and she was moved and inspired.

Baker was the inspiration for the entire Dior haute couture collection for spring/summer 2023. Speaking of the Black icon and American-turned-French citizen, Chiuri said, “She was really an incredible, empowered woman” – reports Vogue. Chiuri dedicated the whole collection to Baker and commissioned portraits of Baker which hung during the fashion show. The house’s social media writes how the dresses shimmered and shined on the runway, “just as Josephine Baker’s costumes did beneath the spotlights on the stage.”

 

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