For Christian Dior haute couture collection, Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux return to the source, the foundation of the House: the ateliers. Presented in the couture salons of 30 Avenue Montaigne—an intimate setting for a collection of The Bar suit, the essence of Dior, being the principal inspiration.

But the inspiration goes beyond form, the signature silhouette of hourglass jacket and full skirt, encompassing every aspect of the Bar in the original palette, brilliantly contrasting black and white.

Meier and Ruffieux began with the skirt, experimenting with pleating and draping in the evening dresses and long skirts. Their linings, layers of organza to add body, become garments in their own right, like X-rays of archive garments.

The New Look’s volumes are made lighter, more contemporary: it is the spirit of the atelier flou fulfilled by the atelier tailleur. The jacket itself is deconstructed, either elongated at the basque, or drawn in vertically and gathered, adding animation and movement, a new look, a Dior spirit.

With Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in full swing, we set to highlight the fall-winter 2016-2017 collections of selected fashion houses. With Schiaparelli brings circus to town taking inspiration from its own collection of 1938, which was an infusion of rainbow colors and highly detailed embroidery work.

Giambattista Valli show was perfect with size, proportion and dimension in a typically perfected couture display with figurative versions and ’50s nightie style flares out at the hip with puffy sleeves in a series of white gowns,which were soon followed by floor-length diaphanous silken gowns with Grecian-style gathered, with detail around the bust in white, black, pale blue with flashes of bold red palette.

Iris Van Herpen choose The Church of the Oratory of the Louvre, the Protestant church of the Rue St. Honore, as the venue for his haute couture showcase inspired by ‘seijaku’, a Japanese concept that means “finding serenity in the chaos of life. Models were perched on highheels hybrid and dressed in delicate dresses as light as foam, pleated organza and tulle, or similar bubble of crystal drops.

The designer used new techniques of material-making created via Swarovski water drop crystals covered in transparent silicon or thousands of handblown glass bubbles.

Karen Elson, Bella Hadid, Irina Shayk stole the runway at Versace haute couture fall winter 2017 show in Paris while tracksuits made their couture debut thanks to Vetements.

At Atelier Versace shoulders were bare and fabric was thoughtfully wrapped and draped to accentuate feminine form in pastels with splashes of black offered a dramatic tone to some pieces.

Demna Gvasalia showed his collaborative collection, which included outside brands, such as Levi’s, Hanes, Manolo Blahnik, Juicy Couture, Carhartt, Eastpak, Canada Goose, Lucchese, Mackintosh, Dr. Martens, Reebok, Church’s, Alpha Industries, Champion, Kawasaki, Schott, Comme des Garçons, Brioni and more, Vetements was one of the most highly anticipated showings with show notes: “Vetements unsubscribes to the difficult production cycle that has been forced on many designers.

Edda Gimnes is the winner of the 2016 fashion talent award “Designer for Tomorrow” by Peek & Cloppenburg. The graduate from the London College of Fashion presented her womenswear collection “The Ragpicker” at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin and won over the Jury Board led by Patron Alber Elbaz with her hand-drawn prints in black and white.

“I was very impressed by the individuality and creativity of all the collections,” Alber Elbaz said in a video message from Paris. “I especially see a lot of potential in the collection by Edda Gimnes. She captured my imagination and I’m keen to find out how her talent will evolve, he further added.

The right-handed Edda Gimnes created instinctive drawings with her left hand, inspired by her own eclectic assortment of found objects. The resulting fantasy world was then brought to life in black and white using canvas and fur. The next step for the up-and-coming designer: a trip to Paris to visit Alber Elbaz as part of the one-year sponsorship program.