Fall 2018 Haute Couture: Julien Fournie's Dangerous Screen Sirens
Revealed as a dark 1950s silhouette against a red background, the first model in Julien Fournié’s collection then sashayed like a femme fatale in a feathered black dress created with the help of Julian Vermeilleux, a feather artist.
Rather that the fluffy look favoured by other designers who included feathers in their designs, Fournié had opted for feathers that seem moulded around the body. While they look rigid, the feathers were actually very flexible— paradoxically, even though it is very wearable, Fournié says the dress was sold ahead of the show to a collector who plans to display it like an artwork in his home, adding the dress had taken two and a half months of work.
“Suspense is like a woman .The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement.””
Like that feathered black dress, each successive piece paid tribute to the discreet handwork of his Paris atelier: embroidery in matte thread over sequins, veils covering sparkling shines, draped reindeer leatherFournié was proud that the entire collection had been made for the first time in-house, with the exception of the feathered dress.
Sculptural drapings and biai inlays dominated his Fall/Winter 2018 haute couture collection, in a palette of ruby red, duck-blue, and fawn.
© Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop
Fournié told Couturenotebook he was partly inspired by the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale and its two heroines—Offred, played by Elisabeth Moss, who is shown mostly wearing a long red cape, and her nemesis Serena Joy, played by Yvonnes Strahovski, often dressed in duck blue.
“Beyond this, there were also the heroines of Hitchcock, played by Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren. They incarnated an image of a beauté froide where you don’t know if they are prey or killer. I like this idea of suspense that Hitchcock showed in his films, and I wanted to show this in a collection,” he explained.
“I tried to keep my design as clean as possible, doing maybe less shiny embellishments, and instead using mainly thread embroideries. When I used gradients of sequins I pirated?? them with thread to take away the shine. Instead of adding shine, I took it away, reversing the work,” he explained.
Increasingly the designer, who often caters for a clientele in the Middle East, is moving away from plunging necklines, covering up his models instead in luxurious materials—mohair, pecari and an incredibly fluid reindeer leather dress.
The collection offers asymmetry, tightly fitting busts, and hidden cuts to give more comfort. The overall silhouette was elongated with long skirts stopping at the ankle to be more practical while others were mid-calf length. Of note, was a beautiful mohair jacket with a large, elaborate jacket belted over a multi-coloured feather skirt, a darkly shimmering pant suit entirely covered in gradient of burgundy to deep purple sequins, a long liquid jersey dress in electric blue with an asymmetrical décolleté.
For the first time, the French couturier had also designed a handbag to complete his look with a chic nude interior: “because I feel women need to be able to see what’s inside
The collection offer vertiginous asymmetry, tightly fit bust, hidden cuts to give more comfort. The overall silhouette was elongated and chicly ganted, with long skirt stopping at the ankle to be more practical or mid-calf. Of note, was a beautiful mohair jacket with an large elaborate jacket belted over a multi-colored feather skirt, a darkly shimmering pant suit entirely covered in gradiant of burgundy to deep purple sequins, a long liquid jersey dress in electric blue with an asymmetrical decolte.
For the first time, the French couturier also offer a handbag to complete his look with a chic nude interior, “because I feel women need to be able to see what’s inside what’s in the bag.”.