This season, Aelis has taken a step back — literally. “We decided to leave the planet and look at it from space,” said designer Sofia Crociani backstage at the show on Sunday. “We worked with photographs of the Earth taken from outer space and showing the state it is in: The ozone layer, the repartition of nature.…We looked at its vulnerability.”
Long trailing silk gowns with unfinished hems floated down the runway — the designer wanted them to look like they were in a state of zero gravity — in a color palette blending black, white, aqua and pink. Gold touches were added via a chainmail detail around the collar of a white dress and a bronze moiré skirt, which was worn with a new creation for the label, fuzzy sweaters made of “cashmere fur.”
“It is out of the question for us to use real fur or even a synthetic version — plastic isn’t the way forward for us,” said Crociani, who counts eco-warrior Pamela Anderson amongst her clients. “So we created a new kind of fur, knitting together silk, cashmere, cotton and camel hide, always focusing on collaborating with farmers who work in the right conditions. It’s the same with our leather pieces: We only use the skins from animals that are farmed for food.”
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Exotic parrot feathers — which were sourced via a rescue center and reworked by feather artisan Erik Halley — peeped out of some of the silhouettes, a nod to the show’s soundtrack. Upon arriving at the venue in the courtyard of the Lycée Henri IV, the designer decided to play a recording of birdsong to cover up the sound of surrounding cars — to surprising effect. “It woke up all the real-life birds and they started to talk to each other,” she said. “It was incredible. We literally brought nature to the show.”