The Ann Demeulemeester muse this season was a wannabe bride, with a rigid veil strapped to her head, offsetting her pale mien and ruby-stained lips. Her models walked to the beat of a hauntingly beautiful remix of “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” like characters out of a Jane Austen novel with a hidden dark side.
Feminism, schme-minism. Die-hard romantic Sébastien Meunier had in mind a girl “who dreams of future love, of being taken but also of remaining free…and who dreams of partying.” The designer gathered a crew of house favorites, including Erin O’Connor, Kirsten Owen and Alek Wek, to pull off the story line, in addition to some new recruits.
There was a sense of freedom to the collection’s flowing silhouettes with their trailing straps; a new sportswear direction and some nice volume plays added a fresh edge. The designer layered a cropped black sweatshirt over a billowing, prairie-girl white cotton dress, and revisited baggies in gauzy lace or deep-purple crushed velvet.
The unexpected mix of lace and black leather — with a supersoft, aged look — worked well, especially on the looks edged with the line’s signature fur and feather trims, which lent a note of poetry and fragility.

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Rick Owens knows we’re judging. He knows someone out there watching his fashion show will look at his wackadoo headgear — for fall, sweatshirt sleeves were rigged up on wire apparatuses hanging down, hooding the face — and take it the wrong way: Did anyone else see the long white sleeves dangling from geometric crowns and get a whiff of a hazmat mask?
Owens wasn’t feeling ominous or apocalyptic, at least openly, but ceremonial. “Improvised ceremony” was his main message backstage, where he made the point that ceremonies are one of the pillars of civilization. “People are coming together to collectively pursue common goals and ideas,” he said, adding that fashion shows are contemporary ceremonies. Yes, a gathering of people pursuing the common goal of judging your collection.
Headdresses aside, the lineup was striking, and very weird — but with moments of beauty, too. Below the neck, the silhouettes were mostly built out of major outerwear over long, lean skirts cut into flaps, front and back, though the lines blurred. Patchwork coats and capes came in sturdy mishmashes of thick wool, painted canvas and quilted puffer jacket pieces, arranged in different layers and lengths. Often it was hard to decode where one garment ended and another began.

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It was one of those awkward interim seasons at Carven, where the design studio has to put together a collection without official creative direction. To recap, creative directors Alexis Martial and Adrien Caillaudaud left the house after the spring show, and Serge Ruffieux is incoming from Dior, but not in time for the fall collection.
The theme was Mrs. Dalloway, a woman for whom the simple act of buying flowers becomes a transformative experience. Naturally, there were a lot of floral reference: Magnolia petals inspired the draped sleeves on a blush pink ottoman silk dress; the gently gathered pleats on the midsection of an ice blue blouse and pink cocktail dress were meant to evoke arum flowers, and there was an abstract black-and-white floral print. For all the flower power, the freshest, strongest pieces were a chic black dress with a wide, portrait collar, and a range of twisted Vichy-printed tailored pieces. The studio did it its duty. Now, we have to wait to see what Ruffieux brings to Carven.

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Alexis Mabille was in peace and love mode for fall, with a dove motif winging its way through the collection, surfacing on a sweetheart bustier dress in black pique, for instance, or as a white cassimere and gold-embroidered appliqué on the line’s haute sweatshirt dresses. The latter was one of a sprinkling of street-chic moments, along with jogging pants with rows of oversize pearls running up the legs that came in midnight blue crepe or lace.
It sounds over-the-top, but the collection — and the designer’s unabashedly rich sense of glamour — felt more reined in as a whole, though it remained DNA sharp, with myriad spins on his signature shirting.
Worked in a range of soft, makeup tones, the outerwear was the best part, especially the pagoda jacket in denim and white mink trim, and an overcoat in flesh-tone cashmere with white piping.
Providing the show’s fun live soundtrack were Audrey Ismaël and Vanessa Filho of the French pop act Smoking Smoking, dressed in matching gold latex catsuits like flesh-and-blood Oscar statuettes.

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PARIS – In her first public statement since a controversy broke out over the treatment of models at Paris Fashion Week, casting director Maida Gregory Boina – one of the two people named in an Instagram post by fellow casting agent James Scully – has responded to the accusations against her.
In an exclusive statement to WWD on Thursday, Boina commended Scully for “raising awareness of the issues of ethnic diversity and the humane treatment of runway models,” but accused him of intentionally misrepresenting the facts surrounding a casting call for Balenciaga on Sunday “for personal career gain.”
“As a woman of color, I am a major advocate for ethnic diversity in the industry,” Boina said. “I care deeply about and am committed to the wellbeing of models. We do, however, condemn James for posting inaccurate and libelous remarks regarding Sunday’s casting for Balenciaga.”
Scully, an auto-proclaimed advocate for models’ rights, unleashed a firestorm on Tuesday after posting a lengthy statement on Instagram accusing “Madia & Ramy (serial abusers)” of leaving 150 models waiting in a stairwell in the dark for several hours. He was referring to Boina and her partner, Rami Fernandes.
Balenciaga swiftly cut ties with the pair, saying it had sent

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MILAN — Contemporary women’s fashion and accessories trade show White recorded a 4 percent increase in international buyers and a 14 percent rise in visitors overall, despite an uncertain economic outlook for the year.
White, which closed its three-day run on Feb. 27, hosted 511 companies in total, more than double the brands that showcased men’s and women’s collections in January. Of the 511 brands on show, 145 were from abroad.
“We are trying to make White ever more international and contemporary. To do that, we scout brands like these all over the world,” said founder and organizer Massimiliano Bizzi.
The special areas at the show highlighted White’s focus on turning the fair into a more international event. The show hosted talents from Kazakhstan, Portugal and Belgium. White’s guest label the Situationist was from the country of Georgia.
Irakli Rusadze, the 25-year-old founder of the Situationist label, unfurled a collection marked by a sophisticated sartorial flair and a distinct Eastern European underground feel. A self-taught creative, Rusadze learned to make his own patterns at age 13. Most of the collection that was on show was crafted inside his home. Rusadze was discovered by White organizers at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Tbilisi in 2016.
Ensembles included tight-fitting leather

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ON THE MOVE: French luggage brand L/Uniform has teamed with beauty brand Hervé Herau to create a mini vanity case filled with refillable travel essentials.
The kit, launched on March 1 exclusively at Parisian concept store Colette for 495 euros, or $522 at current exchange, is made of cotton canvas and linen and edged with gray leather.
Like all of growing brand L/Uniform’s products, the case can be personalized with felted letters or numbers in situ. It contains a selection of six “essential” Hervé Herau beauty products — Face Cleanser Care, Gel Lotion Care, Skin Care, Extra Rich, Lip Care and Pommade.
“People have always asked me for travel formats, but this is the first time I’ve done them,” said Herau, whose brand, a favorite with celebrities, is exclusive to Colette in Paris.
“Nobody makes vanity cases anymore,” said Jeanne Signoles, a Goyard veteran who founded L/Uniform with her husband Alex two years ago. “We’re also launching a larger vanity case with a shoulder strap that makes it more practical,” she explained. The larger model will sell alone for 595 euros, or $628, in L/Uniform’s full distribution: its Quai Malaquai store and Le Bon Marché in Paris, Isetan in Tokyo and online, as well as

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Jennifer Fisher is taking collection presentation matters into her own hands.
The jeweler is forsaking the traditional in-person presentation format for one accessible by phone.
On Friday morning, Fisher will present her new designs on Instagram — leveling the playing field for both consumers and editors. A portion of the product shown will be immediately shoppable through the Instagram interface.
In keeping with the “raw” spirit of her social media presence, Fisher has photographed much of these new designs on herself.
The launch is purposefully timed to coincide with Paris Fashion Week, as well as the weekend following most consumers’ paydays. “People shop more over the weekend,” she said of metrics observed from her web site.
Fisher said that her label often receives press and consumer requests with screen grabs from her site or Instagram attached for reference. In presenting her new line on social media, Fisher hopes to accelerate this ease-of-access-type culture surrounding the label.
“It’s so hard during fashion week for the accessories market to get any kind of attention — it’s something a lot of accessories designers are wrestling with. I’ve done large-scale presentations with sponsors and smaller things, and wanted to do something different,” said Fisher.
The designer said that given the current political

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UNDER THE INFLUENCE: An army of influencers, including Elisa Nalin, Valentina Ferragni and Vanessa Hong took some time out from building their empires to attend the Rochas show on Tuesday, with a gazillion followers in tow.
Brazilian style blogger and entrepreneur Helena Bordon said she was preparing to open a cafe in her store in Brazil, focused on L.A.-style food — “avocado dill, all the different kinds of tartines….” She’s also busy developing her locally produced sunglasses line, with a recent surprise endorsement from Kate Moss. “She wore one of my frames to the Louis Vuitton men’s show in January, I was super in shock,” she said, explaining that the connection was her mother, Donata Meirelles, style director of Vogue Brazil, who is an old friend of Moss’. Connections, connections. Bordon also chatted about the experience of walking in the Dolce & Gabbana show last week. “I was sweating, and I had to pee right at the last minute, I thought I was going to throw up. It was a mix of emotions, but so much fun in the end.”
A few rows down, glued to her phone, Danielle Bernstein of We Wore What said she’s working on the sophomore collection of her Second Skin Overalls line. “A lot of people

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