Bare skin, fantasy and the machine: 3 takeaways from Paris' starry couture week

Key Points:

• Designer Pierpaolo Piccioli made a striking debut at Balenciaga's couture show during Paris couture week, presenting ballooning gowns and feathered cocoons, culminating in a standing ovation alongside his atelier.
• The couture season highlighted three main themes: the manipulation of the human body through fashion, escapism into fantasy amid global tensions and heat waves, and the balance between handmade craftsmanship and advanced technology.
• Designers explored various treatments of the body, from exposing and armoring it to making it vanish entirely, with notable collections from Silvana Armani, Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli, Piccioli at Balenciaga, and Iris van Herpen.
• Fantasy and storytelling were prominent, with shows inspired by historical events, fairy tales, and tributes, such as Elie Saab's masked ball, Zuhair Murad's dark garden, and Stéphane Rolland's homage to Dalida.
• Technology and craftsmanship intersected as designers incorporated innovative materials like lab-grown silk and particle accelerator-treated fabrics, emphasizing couture's ongoing dialogue between machine processes and human artistry.