Vada in Paris: highlights from the Haute Couture fashion shows

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Hadley Stewart is Features Editor at Vada Magazine.

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Our features editor shares his favourite pieces from the Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2023 runway shows.

Sub-zero temperatures have reached the cobbled streets of the French capital, which seems rather fitting for the first show I’m attending at The American Cathedral in Paris. Inspired by the freezing slopes of the Himalayas, Fovari’s latest collection sees its draping mirroring the rolling slopes of the mountain ranges, with snow white, sky blue and black coloured fabrics featuring heavily in this runway show. The brand is said to seek to re-invent couture for the modern woman, having been founded in 2021 by the designer Yara Shoemaker.

The white runway from the previous show is removed, whilst invited guests venture into the outside breeze to lunch in nearby Parisian brasseries. The cathedral’s original tiling now forms the runway for the next show, running along the centre of inward facing rows of church pews. The notion of nature seems to be a recurring theme through many of these shows, given that the next collection, Alin Le’Kal, has been inspired by the Australian landscape. The natural surroundings of the country, from the brightness of the beach to wet and dark forests, give rise to the beautiful silhouettes that envelop the models that strut down Le’Kal’s runway.

Lastly, it is the turn of La Métamorphose, which bookends the first day of the Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week with a collection that has the ambition of capturing the beauty of the night. From cocktails, to the mystery of the stars, and the illuminated moon, these pieces are set to remind us that the night is filled with light and shade.