“Latex slips into mainstream haute couture at Paris Fashion week.” How’s that for a headline? But it’s true. Last time we wrote about Louis Vuitton and the Michael Jackson controversy, sad as that all is. But his time we have something much more positive to report from Paris.
Givenchy’s Clare Waight Keller gave the audience attending her high-end runway show a taste of things we have rarely see in Fashion Week shows. The UK designer who created Meghan Markle’s wedding dress had her models dressed in a wide variety of wardrobe pieces, materials (such as lacquered lace and brocade) and in…latex.
There were backpacks with big silks bows (so big in fact they give the Victoria’s Secret ‘angel wings’ a run for their money), frayed feather-like dresses of multi colors and the usual higher-end dresses, suits, and tops. But added into the mix of the Givenchy Spring 2019 couture collection were latex leggings, a latex one-arm holster, and a fire-red latex bodysuit.
It’s not that mainstream designers haven’t used latex before. The feel and look of our most favorite textile art are undeniable. And surely we feel we are amongst many houses out there creating haute couture along with our bespoke pieces. But very few participants in a Fashion Week show have included latex in the way Clare Waight Keller dared.
The question of mainstreaming the material we have worn for so long and that we lovingly render, wear, and indeed marks us different from everybody else, is something fashionistas, hardcore and casual, consider. And with the further infiltration of latex into everyday wear or more frequently seen in fashion shows, there is sure to be both good and bad of what’s designed and worn.
Still, it was a thrill to see Clare Waight Keller and Givenchy take another positive step forward.
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