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- 01 October 2012
So it only seems right that Stella take a moment to breathe and it was this attitude we could see working its way through the collection - all loose, easy, slouchy, low slung, nothing was hard to wear.
"Really, it was a conversation between a man and a woman, taking the boldness, the crispness, the fragility," explained McCartney backstage after the show, noting the use of sheer and transparent layering among striking and impactful shapes and colour.
Step forward sleeveless dresses boasting pleated elliptical shapes (they came in neon and spearmint, white and black), and voluminous rounded jumpers in sheer and light fabrics so that they weren't really jumpers at all, low-crotch trousers worn low on the hip, dropped-waist dresses with roomy pockets and lapel-strapped tailoring - again worn loose in cut and silhouette.
"It was all very low-key - even the hair - but all kept together with the tailoring," noted Vogue deputy editor Emily Sheffield.
There were of course sporty references in there too - because that just goes hand in hand with McCartney's easy aesthetic (and it's not like she's not familiar with the concept).
"You know, people always say that about me and I think I always do because that's the masculine element," she reasoned.
These references came in the colour palette - bright grass green and orange, there was something very sports team-like about it - and in the practicality of bombers, shirts, deep Vs and those graphic round lines.
But McCartney knows how to do girly too, and introduced a series of tea dress styles - again with these pleated eclipses - in peach and blue marble print and then in oversized broderie anglaise.
"This is our embroidery," she said of the circular motif. "We still wanted texture and depth for that mix of masculine and feminine."
The one thing McCartney isn't feeling next summer though is a crazy shoe. "I'm not into a super high shoe at the moment, I'm just not feeling for a power shoe right now," she said. So if you are planning on stepping out in Stella next season, you'll find yourself doing so in a pair of perspex low-ish platforms.
It was bright and breezy - just like the designer backstage - and a much more relaxed take from McCartney.
You have to hand it to Stella McCartney, she gives good front row. In a season where A-listers have elsewhere been less present than might be expected, they were out in their droves for the designer’s spring/summer 2013 show at the Paris Opera today.
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Paris Fashion Week: Stella McCartney spring/summer 2013
A gold medal-winning front row looked on as Stella McCartney delivered another hit collection at Paris Fashion Week.
BY LISA ARMSTRONG | 01 OCTOBER 2012
By the time Sir Paul and Lady Nancy McCartney had given the photographers what they wanted - Lady Nancy looking remarkably serene given all the jostling - Kate Moss had already retreated to the hospitality room for mid morning refreshments.
If Moss ever doubts her ability to draw a crowd - and there must be the odd day in the Cotswolds when she isn't stalked - she will surely be reassured by the ravening pack that rushed towards her when she arrived on Mario Testino's arm outside Charles Garnier's lushly ornate Opera House in Paris.
Inside, the ravening continued with merry indiscrimination, paps snapping away at Victoria Pendleton, Natalia Vodianova, Ellie Simmonds, the gold paralympics medallist and M.I.A the very beautiful British song-writer-come-artist-come-director-come-humanitarian whose lengthy credentials craftily leave minimal room for other name checks.
The celeb-garlanded front row is becoming an endangered conceit at other houses, where a new generation of designers seems keen on stressing gravitas over a relationship with Kim Kardashian. But McCartney, recognising perhaps that by inviting her father to every show she has little choice but to embrace celebrity, seems relaxed sharing the limelight. That could be a sign of her confidence. Of all the big names in Paris, McCartney makes clothes that slide most effortlessly into a wardrobe, whether that of a-list actresses or A-list career women.
The elision of masculine and feminine, evident in all her collections, has near universal appeal. That said, she's not afraid to challenge: playing with the oversized jackets, blouses or long waistcoats and floaty oblong shaped sheer and opaque layers that have pre-occupied Paris. And like the rest of Paris, some combinations looked clunky. Perhaps a thigh length blouson shape over a midi is beyond rescue.
However, strapless, animal print silk jump-suits, delicate chiffon tea-gowns with an abstract brushstroke print, cropped trousers worn with peplumed bustiers and slouchy khaki cotton dresses that were half negligee, half tailored jacket, or loose silk dresses with drawstring waists were definitely not clunky. Nor were the broderie anglaise shirt-and-trouser suits, all of them worn with a Perspex flat-form wedge sandal, designed for maximum movement.
Like almost all designers, McCartney said she was bored with painful heels - and conceded that her involvement with the Olympics may have influenced one or two sporty looking vest tops.
"I wanted to focus on clothes that can genuinely be worn everyday " she said. And maybe one or two that will be worn endlessly on the red carpet - such as the white organza shift with a disc of bright orange accordion pleating reminiscent of the Japanese flag.
Backstage, McCartney modestly feigned surprise at the suggestion that this design, which also came in emerald, would, like her illusion dresses, be ruthlessly ripped off. "When you've worked that closely on something you can't see the hits from the misses".
Very nice dresses, I love the colours and his elegant lines
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