Julien Dossena offered a little color therapy this season along with his fall collection for Paco Rabanne.
Guests emerged from a tunnel into a cocoon-like room in the basement of the Palais de Tokyo that was bathed in changing light, adding an otherworldly glow to his futuristic lineup of skimpy dresses in a patchwork of different textures.
Working off a base of ‘80s couture tropes — think pouf skirts, swagged hemlines and oversize bows — he spliced midriffs with contrasting materials to create a snatched waist.
At times, Dossena experimented with tone-on-tone mélanges, like a gray tweed that morphed into a speckled chenille knit. At others he indulged in the frisson of cutting and pasting seemingly mismatched elements, like a deeply slit orange skirt with a pink mohair tube top trimmed with a curved silver plate at the chest.
“I wanted to return to what I consider the essential values of Paco Rabanne: a mix of the conceptual and the intellectual with something very sensual and feminine,” the designer said during a preview. “They are like super heroes, or cyber heroes, in the mix of colors and textures.”
Some of the dresses were as easy to wear as a sweater. Others had a more opulent feel, in particular the dresses and skirts made from the house’s signature chainmail, which was pleated and ruffled in a technical feat that marked a departure for the Space Age label.
After months of sensory deprivation, this visual feast was all the dopamine boost required.
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