From the beauties at Balmain to the bizarre Rick Owen’s show, we list our favourite collections from PFW SS16
Chloé
Chloé’s Spring Summer 2016 collection was a continuation of Clare Waight Keller’s past collections that take inspiration from retro British style, pushing the agenda of the ‘Chloé girl’ being that of a youthful, modern bohemian of sorts. Key pieces included massive lace harem pants, dungarees, raw-edged denims, and peasant smocks that seemed to take inspiration from the spirit of great British music festivals, giving the collection a naïve and innocent vibe that seems to be a common characteristic present in Waight Keller’s presentations.
Rick Owens
The most surprising aspect of Rick Owens’ shows is that the designer still manages to instil some sort of shock value into his collections – whether it’s his provocative menswear presentations to his most recent SS16 collection that had women carrying women in a manner that could easily be misconstrued.
His SS16 collection bears the same name as his menswear collection Cyclops and instead of focusing on the aggressive aspect like he did with his menswear collection, when applied to women Owen’s vision focused on aspects such as nourishment, community, and compassion - hence the straps used to hold the women together, Owen’s interpreted the straps as a form of support and cradling - despite the sexual connotations and innuendos they may otherwise present.
Balmain
Gigi Hadid recently made headlines for her outspoken Instagram post shaming the criticism she receives across her social media channels; regardless, she embraces her natural god-given assets - and if Balmain’s SS16 was any indication Olivier Rousteing among others fully embraces them too. Rousteing continued to celebrate curves with his collection presenting carefully placed cut-outs in a presentation that paid tribute to a women’s ample assets, specifically the decolletage and derriere.
Key pieces included his usual chiffon ruffles with a cinched waist, crochet-knit dresses, and square shoulders, it takes a particular type of girl to pull off the Balmain aesthetic – however his palette took us by surprise as it was a welcome change of cream, caramels, and toffees, and nude – simple yet sexy.