Vincent Garnier Pressiat said his spring collection was inspired by the desert. Instead (because it’s Paris), he got rain.
The event was conceived as part street happening, part musical performance and part runway show, with models strutting down a wet street before making their way into a blank box gallery dotted with mounds of fine sand.
Though it was just 5 p.m., the front row was giving nightclub vibes, with guests like drag queen Keiona and ballroom stars Giselle Palmer and Honey Balenciaga dressed to the nines.
Pressiat titled the collection “Burning Era,” a nod to the state of the planet, but also to the Burning Man festival. “It was an idea of hope in this land that is burning, given that we have wars everywhere,” said the designer.
As weighty as it sounded, the theme was a pretext for Pressiat to deploy his signature mix of sensual slips and bold tailoring, with shoulders jutting out to here on a cracked leather jacket, or a stiff black belted coat dress that nodded to the heyday of French couture.
The whole thing was accompanied by a manic performance from Lulu Van Trapp’s Rebecca Baby and Maxwell Sam Rezài Rashti, treating their runway like their personal stage.
Flimsy scoop-necked tank tops were paired with a petal-layered miniskirt trimmed with zippers, or loosely flapping upcycled jeans. Glossy leather coats and cowled knits had a sci-fi tinge — think extras from “Dune” — but the asymmetric draped dresses were all bourgeois chic.
You could well imagine Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who portrays Sylvie Grateau on “Emily in Paris,” rocking up to a function in a black one-shouldered number slit to the thigh. Who said attention seekers need to be loud?
