Though there’s a strong undercurrent of nostalgia on the runways of late, Uma Wang said that she wanted to express ideas about the past in the most abstract way possible.
“Normally I travel before a collection, but this time I wanted to let my customer travel with me,” she said backstage before her fall outing.
Likening her process to the river of memory—from the Renaissance masters she favors to a stroll through a flea market or the imprint of a body on pillows—the designer described sampling fragments of the past and letting them flow into new ideas about the future.
In a way, it was also about taking stock after 15 years in the business. “It’s all connected,” she offered, adding, “I also wanted to show that we don’t just do romantic long dresses; I wanted to take things forward with shapes and fabrics that have a strong personality. So it’s everything I’ve been and everything I still want to become.”
Whereas in the past Wang has seized on a single inspiration, this season she wanted to focus just on silhouette, shape, and clothes. On the runway, a rich palette of lush-looking fabrics was worked into cocoon-like shapes—for example, in oversized coats and capes in black or antiqued gold and in jackets in patinated brocade or destroyed camouflage. The pillow idea manifested quite literally on a couple of numbers, including one that led a section of looks in the season’s agenda-setting burgundy. It appeared again on a chocolate-colored dress that seemed to be made of memory fabric, a trend that has been cropping up for both men and women this season.
Clearly, Wang masters tailoring, but while many of these exaggerated shapes seemed at home amid the dramatic setting of the American Cathedral in Paris, what remains to be seen is how they will be revisited to fit the real world.
