PARIS: Paris Fashion Week went underground in more ways than one when a rising young avant-garde designer held her show on the city’s Metro.
Berlin-based Andra Dumitrascu had to think quickly when the venue for her show late Friday fell through at the last minute.
So she directed fashionistas to the nearest Metro station, Rambuteau, where her models used the platform as a runway.
“I didn’t like the idea of doing it in the street, I thought a Metro station might be a better place,” the Romanian-born designer told AFP.
“I love the adrenaline and the instability of the situation,” she added.
But the organizers had their work cut out to clear a passage, with the models sometimes being swallowed up by passengers getting on and off the trains.
While Dumitrascu did not have official permission for the show, she said “it was worth taking the risk” — and fashion critics and passengers alike seemed to enjoy the spectacle.
This is not the first time the designer has gone off-piste — her last show took place in a sex hotel.
This collection, called “Kebaby,” had a youthful rave vibe with clothes mixing sportswear with Islamic influences.
Earlier in the day the Japanese brand Issey Miyake used dancers to kick off a remarkable collection drawn from the landscape of Iceland, with dresses and capes summoning up ice floes and ice cubes that you could see Bjork drooling over.
Tokyo master Yohji Yamamoto’s spring-summer collection on Friday night was almost entirely in black with flashes of vampire red in the lining of his trailing capes and scarves, with one model wearing one of his labels on her skin.
Another Japanese institution, Junya Watanabe, wowed critics in the first of the Saturday shows with his bravura punky hook-up with the Finnish textile house Marimekko.
“Now that’s a collaboration,” The New York Times’s Vanessa Friedman tweeted of his startling sculptural black and white creations.
Haider Ackermann, who also designs for Berluti, brought that razor-edged tailoring into play for his own brand, with shimmering red and gold lame tuxedos and tightly wrapped strap tops in collection that oozed power.
Metro is just the ticket for Paris fashion show
Metro is just the ticket for Paris fashion show
Amira Al-Zuhair continues campaign streak with Ralph Lauren
- French Saudi model in classic, nautical-inspired outfits
- She has also fronted Ramadan campaign for Loro Piana
DUBAI: French Saudi model Amira Al-Zuhair has been on a roll this year, fronting multiple campaigns for global brands, the latest for Lauren Ralph Lauren, a more accessible ready-to-wear line from the US fashion house Ralph Lauren.
In a short video shared on the brand’s Instagram page recently, the model appeared in a classic, nautical-inspired look. She wore a black-and-white striped knit top with a short, buttoned placket, layered beneath a brown leather jacket and paired with high-waisted white shorts.
The outfit was finished with a brown leather handbag detailed with white piping and a nautical-style charm, along with a wide metallic cuff bracelet and delicate drop earrings.
Just last week, Al-Zuhair fronted a Louis Vuitton campaign, which she shared with her followers on her Instagram page. Across the images, she was pictured wearing several looks from the brand in beige, tan and brown tones.
Among the standout looks, she wore a coordinated two-piece consisting of a long-sleeve blouse with decorative detailing across the chest, paired with high-waisted, wide-leg trousers in a similar tone.
In February, she fronted a Ramadan campaign for Italian luxury brand Loro Piana.
She wore a floor-length olive-green dress featuring a V-neckline, defined waist seam and fluid cape-style sleeves falling from the shoulders.
According to the brand’s Instagram caption, the Ramadan capsule highlights “intricate detailing and the beauty of simplicity,” presenting a wardrobe of comfortable silhouettes.
Shot in the warm, diffused light of a pottery artist’s studio, the campaign centered on elongated shapes, clean lines, and a muted palette of sage and sand tones.
Also in February, she posed for Dolce & Gabbana in an evening-ready look centered on a structured metallic dress paired with a matching coat. The fabric was richly textured, featuring intricate floral embroidery and shimmering silver threadwork that caught the light.
Al-Zuhair, born in Paris to a French mother and Saudi father, has walked for Missoni, Maison Alaia, Brunello Cucinelli, Balmain, Tory Burch, Giambattista Valli, Giorgio Armani, Elie Saab and more.
In addition to her runway appearances, Al-Zuhair has featured in campaigns for brands including Prada, Chanel and Carolina Herrera.
