Fall 2023 was, thankfully, all about the clothes. A feeling of focus and reductionism ran throughout the runways of Paris as designers seemed to pare away the extraneous and dig into designing clothes that would connect with people.
Finally coming into his stride at Givenchy, Matthew M. Williams delivered a collection that was the most convincing synthesis of his take on grungy streetwear with the house’s legacy of French elegance yet.
Dries Van Noten offered a masterful blend of the organic and the pristine by combining masterful tailoring and construction and gilded touches with raw hems and jubilantly multifaceted patchwork moments.
Surprising in their typically banal glamor being included in a collection that was characteristically gloomy but unsurprising considering his mastery of using familiar materials in new ways, glittery sequins were a star of Rick Owens’ collection that looked to Victorian attitudes to fill its play of volumes with a consideration of restraint and liberation.
Leading the pack is Loewe with a collection that saw creative director Jonathan Anderson offer his own surreal take on the theme of reductiveness that characterized much of this season via the use of soft silhouettes, simple geometry, and a quiet blurring of everyday reality.
Here are The Impression’s Top 10 fashion shows of the Fall 2023 season from Paris as selected by our Chief Impressionist, Kenneth Richard.
10 – Chanel
9 – Stella McCartney
8 – Givenchy
7 – Chloé
6 – Victoria Beckham (tie)
6 – Miu Miu
5 – Sacai
4 – Dries Van Noten (tie)
4 – Louis Vuitton
3 – Rick Owens
2 – Dior
1 – Loewe
