Haute Couture SS19, this is the end: following shows by Chanel, Iris Van Herpen, Dior, and Givenchy, we’re bidding Paris goodbye (at least for a few weeks) this afternoon. Rounding things off, though, was John Galliano’s latest Margiela show. Here’s what went down.  

IT WAS THE FIRST CO-ED COUTURE SHOW

Following on from September’s first ever co-ed Margiela show, this season Galliano presented his debut co-ed Couture collection, in which men’s and women’s wear was combined.

IT TOOK PLACE AT MARGIELA HQ

...in a bright white room where a psychedelic, Poodle-emblazoned runway had been laid and mirrors lined the ceiling. In his latest The Memory Of… podcast (which we have been living for since it first landed on our iTunes FYI), Galliano explained he had been thinking about the way in which we consume information, and how oversaturated and overstimulated by an overload of computer-generated imagery the upcoming generation are. In an age of fake news, the mirrors provided a way of illustrating reality and the alternative, and blurred the line between the two.

THE COLLECTION MARKED THE START OF A NEW CHAPTER

After exploring glamour for the past few seasons, Galliano said it was time for a change. For SS19, he shifted his focus to decadence, having been inspired by Joris-Karl Huysmans’ book Against Nature – which tells the story of an aristocrat who turns his back on the vulgarities of modern life and retreats to an isolated villa to live a decadent lifestyle surrounded by beautiful things. Which sounds like goals to us tbh.

IT WASN’T STRAIGHT-UP DECADENCE THOUGH

The collection was, according to Galliano, a reflection of what’s going on today: “We wanted to explore the idea of excess, of artifice and decay,” explained the designer. “We’re so overwhelmed with imagery that we then regurgitate, we followed this idea that eventually the excess could lead to something a little more minimal.”

THERE WERE TWO PARTS TO THE COLLECTION

This season’s inspiration translated into a collection that felt like it was made up of two halves: the first section an intense, sensory overload of colour, embellishments, and wildly deconstructed shapes, and the second a more subdued affair full of stripped back pieces. Psychedelic, grafitti-splashed capes were slung around shoulders, while tunics and slip dresses were covered in iridescent discs, beadwork, and fringing.

Later in the show, models wore tailored suits and capes which appeared to restrain their arms, rendering the possibility of holding a phone obsolete. Where in previous seasons Galliano’s Margiela collections featured iPhone clamps designed to be worn around the wrist or ankle, it seems this time around he’s keen to turn his back on the excesses of technology, social media, and the internet, and change the course for his band of digital nomads. To which we say: lead the way.