He’s a cheeky one, Guram Gvasalia. Showing his Vetements collection for the first time on the Paris men’s calendar, he put the accent on womenswear, and put much of his menswear on women, including Alek Wek, Sasha Pivovarova and Sharon Stone, who looked every inch the modeling pro stalking a vast slab of asphalt in patent leather stiletto thigh boots and a mannish white jacket.
Was Stone’s appearance a deliberate echo of his brother Demna’s Gucci runway debut last March, which opened with a white dress Stone made unforgettable in “Basic Instinct”? Or just a coincidence?
If you Googled the address on the show invitation, it indicated the Novotel Paris Centre Tour Eiffel, although Gvasalia had in fact chosen a characterless tunnel that passes under the building.
The likes of North West, Maluma, Anyma and Olivia Palermo filed in for the 8:30 p.m. show, which predictably started 45 minutes late, to bone-shuddering music, and the model Steinberg charging out in a black suit, grimacing her best grimace.
Is it enough to sustain the hype machine behind this Zurich-based brand?
The collection underwhelmed, with many of the styles familiar and basic: jeans, striped shirts, Harrington and motocross jackets, trench coats, leather pants and pencil skirts.
During a preview, Gvasalia cited a wish to return to the roots of Vetements, and propose clothes that people actually wear for regular life, not for red-carpet duty.
Many garments were nice enough, and some even multi-functional, as the Harrington and trench coats were both reversible to a checkered fabric. The inside back label shows when it’s turned inside out, and it reads Clothing, not Vetements.
“If you know you know,” Gvasalia shrugged.
