 | | Jean Paul Gaultier by Glenn Martens, haute couture, spring 2022.Arnaud Lajeunie |
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Hello, Open Thread! Greetings from Paris, where the skies are gray, the baguettes are warm and the couture shows just took place. |
At least, some of them did — a few were canceled because of Omicron. As were all of the dinners and cocktail parties that usually happen alongside the shows. That has made for a relatively quiet week, though there was still a lot to look at. And not all of it on the runway. |
One of the best parts of couture, which is a relatively lighter daily schedule than the four-city melee of ready-to-wear, is the time spent off the runway: backstage, and in the ateliers, where you can see, and hear, all sorts of goodies that don't make it onto the catwalk. Here, just between us, are three of them: |
Possible next "it" bag. My colleague Jessica Testa spotted these when we stopped by Schiaparelli HQ to talk to Daniel Roseberry, the designer. They were gold bags in the shape of plucked chickens, ready to cook. Even by the standards of Schiap, where Mr. Roseberry has made a signature out of casting body parts and transforming them into accessories (like a corset belt with a belly button and shoes with toes), they were eye-catching. "They looked like something a resident of the Capitol in 'The Hunger Games' would wear," Jess said. |
Front-row fashion secret. Speaking of Schiap, it turns out Kanye West had taken his girlfriend, Julia Fox, to the atelier before the Kenzo show for some front-row clothes scouting. First Ye selected a cropped denim jacket with cone boobs for Ms. Fox, and then, apparently, spotted the perfect pair of jeans to go with — on Mr. Roseberry's legs. The designer graciously donated his pants to the cause. (He did get them back the next day.) |
Backstage truths. After Jean Paul Gaultier retired, his brand decided to hand its couture line over to different "guest" designers each season and let them interpret it in their own way. This time around it was Glenn Martens, the Belgian creative director of Y/Project and Diesel, who specializes in a subversive conceptualism applied to everyday clothing. His JPG stint was his first couture collection, so just before the show began we went back to see how it was going, and I asked Mr. Martens what he had learned. |
"They are sewing until the last minute!" he cried, bounding around, his hair standing on end. In fact, he said, he hadn't even seen some of the dresses, even though they were about to go down the runway. "Excuse me, I have to go look at that one," he shouted before he dashed off. It sounds like a disaster, but when the lights went up, it was one of the best shows of the week. |
Have a good, safe weekend. |
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Your Style Questions, Answered |
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader's fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or Twitter. Questions are edited and condensed. |
Now that cold weather is upon us, I know one of the best ways to stay warm is with a hat, but what is the best style to choose? I don't want to look as if I'm trying to be part of a club that won't have me, or as if I'm about to head to the great outdoors when I am actually going to the grocery store or the office. — Lisa, Boston |
That old saw about losing 80 percent of your body heat through your head that your mother would use to scare you into wearing a hat has been debunked by various scientific studies, including one from the University of Manitoba, in a geographic region that knows its cold, but there's no question that wearing a hat is a good idea in winter. |
But there are so many options. The online store Ssense has 15 pages of hats for women and 20 for men. Trapper, fedora or fake fur? Beanie, bucket, baseball, balaclava, beret, bobble or bonnet? |
(Why do so many hat names start with the letter "b"?) |
At the moment, the most trend-driven style is the bonnet, a hipster version of the headgear popular among Puritans in the 17th century, and its very close relation, the knitted hood, a crafty version of a balaclava without the face covering, also known (albeit incorrectly) as a snood. |
The first started its popular ascent after Emma Corrin modeled a summer black-tie version that matched her Miu Miu gown at the 2021 Emmys, an unexpected choice that was impossible to ignore. Faster than you could say "cottagecore," Miu Miu was making winter versions (Rick Owens, too), and the rest is TikTok history. |
 | | Emma Corrin wore a bonnet on the red carpet at the 2021 Emmys.Joel C Ryan/Invision, via Associated Press |
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Snoods have the benefit of keeping your neck warm without the need for a scarf — or for cinching your coat hood so tightly you can't see anything on the side — but they can have more complicated associations. Some women have pointed out their similarity to the hijab. |
A simple beanie may be the easiest solution. If a snood is the turtleneck of knitted toppers, the beanie is the snuggly sweater. There's a reason it is one of the oldest hat styles in existence (there is debate over when, exactly, it originated, with some beanie historians tracing it to Neolithic Europe and others to medieval Europe): It's simply the most versatile. |
Also, it never looks as though it is trying too hard, and if it isn't too tight, it doesn't create the "hat head" associated with more structured headgear. And it can stretch over ponytails and buns. |
Though there are various sizes, the two extremes — tight on the head or with an exaggerated crown — tend to be where fashion, irony and hipster culture lie. Chunky versions with just a bit of room have fewer tribal associations. And just as they come in pretty much every size and color (black or beige being the most versatile), they are also available in every price point, from designer (Alexander McQueen, Prada, Tom Ford, Acne) to Etsy. |
Of course, you could always knit your own. |
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