Yesterday marked the end of the Spring/Summer 2012 couture shows. The proverbial creme de la creme of fashion, only allowed to show during this three-day short Fashion Week through a Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture membership – haute couture doesn’t mean high dressmaking in French for nothing – showed a degree of craftsmanship and attention to detail all across the fashion spectrum.

Twin recounts our haute couture highlights from Paris…

Alexis Mabille

Proving that haute couture doesn’t have to keep to a demure palette, Mabille punched up the colour factor with his neon designs. Inspired by photographs of Lisa Fonssagrives and Christy Turlington, the creations in fabrics ranging from metallic lame to guipure lace proved that even when it comes to couture, girls just want to have fun.

Bouchra Jarrar

Working with crepe de soie, fur collars and wide-legged tailored trousers, Jarrar’s collection was a take on casual luxe. A bit of tomboy and a dash of urban sophisticate resulted in a whole lot of effortless cool.

Chanel

No couture week is complete without Karl Lagerfeld’s latest mind musings. Taking the double Cs to a more ethereal place this time around (airplane runway, anyone?) resulted in a collection of beautifully hand-embellished pieces in icy blues, ivories and midnight blacks.

Elie Saab

Elie Saab is the go-to designer for anything feminine and delicate, and this season was no exception. Lace and crystal embroidery on nude, pastel pink and pale lemon high-waisted dresses and A-line skirts made being a woman that bit more enticing.

Giambattista Valli

It may only be Valli’s second showing on the haute couture circuit, but the Italian designer proves that he can hold his own among fashion’s heavyweights. With a plethora of expertly tailored feather, lace and embroidered pieces, he’s as couture as they come.

Jean Paul Gaultier

In a beehive and winged eyeliner tribute to Amy Winehouse, Gaultier sent out a collection that was every bit as eccentric and nonchalant as the late singer herself. Encompassing pieces such as back to black shirt-tail hem skirts, leather varsity jackets and silk kimono coats tied at the waist, Winehouse probably wouldn’t have wanted her couture any other way.

Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal

Leave it to the house of Margiela to put an unconventional spin on couture. Rope, braided bracelets and hundreds of pearlescent buttons were turned into  knee-length trench coats, colourful micro dresses, and slouchy blazer and pegged trouser combos, proving that recycled fashion doesn’t have to be drab.

Valentino

It has only taken a few seasons for Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri to fully establish their trademark of girlish and graceful designs at Valentino. Marking a sweet end to haute couture fashion week, this collection of chiffon, lace and tulle in fine floral prints had a glamourised Charlotte Brontë/Jane Austen novel feel to it. Piccioli and Chiuri clearly have a talent for capturing fashion daydreams.

Tags: Alexis Mabille, Bouchra Jarrar, Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture, Chanel, Elie Saab, Giambattista Valli, haute couture, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Maison Martin Margiela, Paris, Valentino

Terry Richardson’s images are conventionally imbued with a heavy dollop of sex and fun so it is refreshing to see him turn his lens to a more sober topic: that of his parents’ divorce. “My parents split up when I was four. It feels good for me to have them back together again, even if it’s in a gallery and only for a little while. It’s something I’m doing for me and in a way, for them.” -Terry Richardson, 2011

Having launched his two-volume publication MOM DAD at cult Paris store Colette, this month sees the accompanying exhibition head to New York’s Half Gallery.

His father Bob Richardson was a renowned fashion photographer while his mother Annie, currently living in Ojai, California, is a former Copacabana dancer and stylist. Their early divorce is irrelevant in Richardson’s NYC exhibition: hung side by side their portraits, as well as written works relating to his parents, see them reunited. Moving yet funny, in bringing his mom and dad back together Richardson attempts to reconcile not only his parents’ marriage, but his own origins and understanding of self.

Published by Morel Books

From 11th November until 4th December 2011 at Half Gallery, 208 Forsyth Street, New York.

Tags: colette, Half Gallery, Morel Books, new york, Paris, terry richardson

Photographer Lina Scheynius delves into her past for her third book, 03, to a time when her photographs were intended for her eyes only.

While Scheynius is increasingly in demand as a fashion photographer, her personal photographs are, in contrast, a hypnotic hymn to sex, love and uninhibited freedom. Although the photographer’s previous books have been visual diaries detailing her recent life between London, Paris and Sweden, this time around she’s compiled a book of images taken between 1991, when she was just ten-years-old, and early 2007, just before her first magazine commission.

It’s an embryonic collection of pictures, revealing the same ethereal beauty, light and intimacy for which she has become known.  Another chapter in her book of life.

Lina Scheynius’ 03 is available here
linascheynius.com

Tags: Lina Scheynius, london, Paris, Sweden