Couture Mania! Thoughts on the Trends and the Meaning of the Fall 2022 Season

July 11, 2022

Couture designs by Valentino Balenciaga Maison Margiela and Schiaparelli.

It’s disingenuous to deny the snob appeal of couture, which has only ever materially been available to the very few, many of whom retain their anonymity. But part of the fun of following the metier is because it is so “other”: “The very rich,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “They are different from you and me.” It’s that fishbowl effect that explains the appeal of television series like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous or The Kardashians, and what keeps us glued to the couture shows, which these days are as meta as they are major.

Chalk that up to the “archival age” we are living in, with its imagery and references and simulations. Even red carpets have become meta, with references to notable earlier appearances, so it’s not surprising to see the same thing happening on the runways. Couture, which remains a pay-to-play game, has become a spectator sport over time. Garments that were once shown directly to clients and shared selectively through media outlets, for instance, are now instantaneously beamed across the globe. Perhaps that’s why fashion seems to be in a “cover song” phase. The fall 2022 season was less about trends than remixes, as many designers revisited archives quite literally. Making past fashions available to a young audience hungry for them, but born too late to have access to them, could be seen as a time-spanning and democratic gesture, if not a modern one.

But the metier has opened up in other ways. Not all shows are presented in Paris, and designers’ offerings have expanded across the gender divide. Iris van Herpen argued for the place of customized technology in a category devoted to hand work. And now, at a time when some ready-to-wear collections include pieces that are nearing couture prices, Balenciaga is proposing a pret-a-couture concept, offering limited-edition, made-in-France, objects only available at the brand’s flagship that can be altered on demand by the ateliers “It’s important to share,” Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit, told Vogue Business, noting that couture is presently “a little too confidential.” (Were the too-big-to-fit-through-the-door dresses Demna showed a witty comment on the stereotypical stuffiness of the couture?)

The pret-a-couture concept is one manifestation of the mood of the season, which was as much about stirring excitement around the shows, as the garments. Maybe that is inevitable seeing that couture, by its very definition, is exclusive and not democratic. Which is not to say it cannot be vicariously enjoyed, much like art is in a museum.

There was a lot to thrill the eye. The petites mains seemed to capture diamond dust on fragile and sparkling dresses at Armani Prive and Fendi. Fingers ached to touch the plumage of fabric or feathers at Balenciaga, Alexis Mabille, and Elie Saab. The intricacy of the embroideries at Christian Dior, Chanel, and Schiaparelli was mind-boggling, and color awakened all the senses at Valentino and Dolce Gabbana.

One of the most thought-provoking dresses of the season was the green frock worn by Bella Hadid at Balenciaga. Seen straight on, it looked like a sculptural design in the manner of M. Balenciaga himself, but in back it was cut in today’s preferred mini length. In the collision of something past and present something new was created. Such was the case also at Valentino, where Pierpaolo Piccioli took what might be described as a drone-distant view of the house and his time there. The abstraction of his references, if you cared to look for them, added to the lightness of the show.