First Spell Haute Couture Collection

Tuesday, July 2nd 2019 runway show

On the occasion of his House’s tenth anniversary, Julien Fournié pays tribute to women who derogate, transform and transcend the social codes which were designed to enclose their gender. Since the dawn of time, the most terrible spell was always cast on these ladies. When in grade of overcoming the limits which patriarchal cultures had imposed on them, female healers, alchemists or scholars, were systematically labeled evil, accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake.

“I have always found witches more stimulating than repulsive,” says Julien Fournié. “Women called by that name do cultivate independence, possess a sense of adventure and stimulate the imagination, opening up to a magical world.”

Mastering every trick in the art of the cut, the French grand couturier modernizes into evil beauties the mythical silhouettes of witches, poisoners, gothic novels dames and film noir stars alike. High collar, embroidered shirtfronts on pleated chiffon blouses, are paired with long Edwardian skirts. In jackets, coats and “trompe-l’oeil“ coat dresses, the cut borrows from the military vocabulary the impeccable padded shoulders and apparent buttoning on the top.

From the waistline downwards, fabric blooms into folded “basques” on jackets, and blossoms, in hemlines at ankle level, to allow marching with the right magnitude. A jacket of knitted yarn mimics fur and mixes fringes with spikes to underline its wild animal aspect. Softened to perfection, precious leathers (python, alligator) sculpt busts and waistlines in black or midnight blue, unless they cinch them with graded animal scales in the tones of auroras. Ravens and other birds of misfortune are summoned on headpieces, bonnet and “capeline”, via embroidered feathers, also woven in a remarkable version of the House’s iconic bag. The signature t-strap mules are decorated for the season with a contrasting tiara pattern on their tip.

“Haute Couture and magic do share a taste for the accumulated experience and the knacks of the trade. Official education often underrates and depreciates this kind of knowledge,” says Julien Fournié. “I am convinced that combining the empirical and the innovative is the best way to save nature, humanity, and change the world so that the free exultation of minds and bodies can never be associated again with devilish Sabbaths.”