New debuts at Couture Fashion Week

This week there were two new design debuts at the couture shows in Paris; Hussein Chalayan's collection for Vionnet, and Marco Zanini's collection for Schiaparelli.

The house of Vionnet has been through several reincarnations, though it originally flourished in the 20s and 30s, before the start of the second world war. Known for its bias cut and exquisite gowns, Chalayan brought an intellectual quality to the brand. Using industrial design as a mood board, he took inspiration from spiral staircases, electrical wiring and furniture. Dresses came scuptural and conceptual, some too complex for something as simple as wearing it, though the opening exits in super light fabrics were amongst his finest pieces.

Notably, Schiaparelli hasn't shown a collection in 60 years, but Zanini took its founder Elsa Schiaparelli's sense of colour and wit, without showing any literal Surrealist fashion she was known for. "She was the epitome of elegance with a certain taste that wasn't very elegant," Zanini said of Schiap. "She was the first to mix high and low."

Images: Couture SS14