Paris Haute Couture Week: Meghan Markle’s wedding dress designer Clare Waight Keller channels purity at Givenchy show
Clare Waight Keller proved she’s a rare creative force with a sublime display at Givenchy. Could it be the best couture show of the season so far?
The British designer, who until 2017 had never touched couture, produced a jaw-dropping collection that demonstrated a surprising mastery.
To moving operatic arias, diverse designs dipped into fresh creative explorations – all from the base note of black.
Black latex leggings shimmered like an oil slick to begin the collection and introduce a textural contrast against an elderberry-coloured architectural bar jacket with one single white lapel. It looked like a bolt of lightning.
If a bolt of lightning was meant as a visual metaphor for the 42-piece collection, it was fitting.
Waight Keller’s couture danced from delicate white feathers on a pearly strong-shouldered bustier to the humour of a black couture rucksack with batwing ruffles.
The artistry of a multicolour-fringe clown-like creation with a Maleficent-style ruff led on to a black embellished “jelly fish” dress with cinched waist and pink tulle skirt that spilled ribbons like tentacles.
Some editors have pointed out that the woman who worked for Chloe from 2011-2017 to make saleable but ultimately forgettable designs seems to be a completely different person to the one we see today at Givenchy.
It’s the beginning of something special in Paris fashion.
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Set to operatic arias, the British designer’s collection for the French luxury brand at Paris Fashion Week displayed surprising creativity and mastery of style and silhouette