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This year, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode allowed two new entries onto the fall couture schedule. The first was Thom Browne, who made a splashy debut on June 3 at the Paris Garnier Opera house. The second was Ashi Studio, an atelier founded in 2007 by Saudi Arabian designer Mohammed Ashi, known for its romantic and geometric fashions. The appointment was a smaller yet significant one: Ashi, who previously worked for Givenchy and Elie Saab, was the first Gulf designer to present at Paris Haute Couture week.
“This appointment is the highlight of my career,” he said. “I am reminded of days escaping to the garden to dream, and of that first day, when I hired one seamstress to bring to life the images in my head. Challenging and joyous, couture continues to lay bare my inner energy, so that I may give the best of myself to serve its high art.”
Ashi found inspiration in Patrick Süskind’s novel Perfume, which centers on an 18th century orphan with an extraordinary sense of smell who is soon overwhelmed and obsessed with his intoxicating power. The collection was titled The Essence. “The dark romance of that novel attracted and pushed me,” said Ashi, who showed at the Théâtre du Châtelet. “The collection is about extracting beauty from deep inside to the outside.”
Nods to the olfactory art were everywhere: a dress with an s-curved silhouette resembled a modern eau du parfum bottle; another look was done in a dark mesh made from grass, a frequent note in scents. A gown with a billowing, voluminous shoulder pad was reminiscent of scent spritzed from a bottle.
Other looks embraced sculptured sleeves, dramatic neck- or hemlines, and what Ashi described as “undressing”—or, the aesthetic progression of unfinished materials into finished ones. A white mini dress, for example, featured a beaded bodice and skirt but was trailed with a rough, rope-like train. He also sent a number of sensually slip-like and transparent “naked dresses” down the runway. It may have been the last day of couture week, but with Ashi, it would forever be the first.
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