Fall 21: Vraies Femmes
A casual stroll down the Champs-Élysées with a lover on a sunny afternoon. Sitting at an outdoor café while reading up on the news. Walking by historic monuments on the way to the market. These moments make up everyday life in great cities like Paris, and played a key role in the French New Wave of the 1960s.
In films like Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, Francois Truffaut’s Jules and Jim, and Agnes Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7, these small moments are used to great effect, through conversations between characters, the plot, and — perhaps most importantly— the fashion. With clean colors and understated style, everyone looks effortlessly cool as they meander down the boulevards — but how can these looks reinvent themselves half a century later?
The answer is not, as you may have assumed from recent social media scrolling, to emulate the style of the titular character in Emily in Paris. Look instead to the secondary characters for a more nuanced view of the style reborn, as described by Daisy Murray for Elle.
The show’s supposed antagonist Sylvie (portrayed by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu) evokes an element of drama with her utter Parisian-ness, but also gives the viewer an air of understated glamour. The sleek lines, classic heritage patterns, and limited accessorizing gives voice to how a professional woman looks.
The chic Parisian women is a trope seen since the French New Wave, as ingenues like Catherine Deneuve, Jean Seberg and Emmanuelle Riva matured. This effortless style has become even more ingrained in the culture, the understanding, and the desire of the vraies femmes of the 21st century.
This theme often finds a home on the runway and the Fall 2020 season was no exception. At Rochas, Veronica Beard, Dior, Rokh, Tommy Hilfiger and Chloé, rich neutrals, animal prints, classic suiting and unexpected twists on patriotic palettes abounded.
With the Fall 2021 Vraies Femmes story, Sullivan Street encouraged artists to approach development with a merchant’s eye, considering coordinating patterns, unique color and unexpected plays on scale.