Ashi has been living in Paris for close to a decade. As it happens over time, his relationship with the city has evolved the more he’s gotten to experience it. This season, the couturier reflected on a portion of Parisian history tied to “the boudoir and the bourgeois,” he said over the phone ahead of his show, which took place in the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild.
As a reference, Ashi looked at Madame Claude, the famous French brothel keeper from the ’60s. This was, he said with a smile, less so for moral or visual guidance, and more so for the many touch points she represented: the French, the sensual, the bourgeois. The show opened with a run of lingerie-inspired looks that put on display Ashi’s deft hand for corsetry. And while his more extravagant and overt silhouettes are certainly memorable—see the heart-shaped red skirt in look 9 or the fabulous bubble skirt in look 14—it’s the impeccable fit of a simple column gown that will surely charm his clients the most. That and the two three sidekicks he included in his show to accentuate three tailored silhouettes. The dogs his models carried are actually haute couture, too, hand-made and embellished to perfectly match their owners’ ensembles. They’re an impressive feat in haute joaillerie, given that their collars were linked to the owners, either through jewelry of their own or as brooches on their looks. Something to keep in mind for the next issue of Dogue.
