Alain Paul made his first official, on-calendar PFW debut Tuesday morning at the Théâtre du Chatelet. It was here that Rudolf Nureyev performed Afternoon of a Faun about 40 years ago. Paul looked to Nureyev and other greats—like the legendary dancer-choreographers Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, and Roland Petit—for a spring collection he described as being “from a choreographer’s point of view,” he said.
Diagrammatic squiggles on T-shirts and a hot yellow sweatshirt etched that out quite literally (those were informed by Cunningham’s sketches). But it was his own 15-year career in dance that ultimately led Paul to fashion—first at Vetements with Demna a decade ago and then at Louis Vuitton men’s under Virgil Abloh. So when the designer stepped out on his own last year, he wanted to lean in on “body awareness and improvisation.”
His intent with the opening look in black and white was to make a statement about movement and constraint, though its form might equally be a metaphor for the work of coming out of one’s shell—after all, Paul began designing his own costumes at the age of 10. Throughout the show, he made a case for the return of the stirrup hem, which unsurprisingly worked better on pants than on dresses. Some looks felt hobbled; a long white dress with graceful draping or the long pink skirt shown with a crisp white shirt à la Sharon Stone at the 1998 Oscars were among several that could have been left out. A handful of ethereal asymmetrical dresses—tailored to the body on one side, cascading on the other, and layered over a white base—made a statement about clothes as movement.
Nureyev’s rigor was the inspiration behind tailored pieces, including a top, pencil skirt, and shift dress in transparent crin—a popular material in Paris this season—as well as a skirt layered over white shirting. A leather jacket with a slightly elevated, structured shoulder was among a sprinkling of pieces with instant commercial appeal and was paired with Paul’s first accessory, an armband pouch informed by kneepads. Inspired by ballet pointes, the Pina shoe in stiletto, flat, or mule iterations just might catch on. It’ll be interesting to see where Paul goes once he decides to take a few more steps away from dance and gives himself more range.
