Top Designers Create New Collections for Atelier Swarovski Home

Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges play with a crystal ball at their studio in London. It is the award-winning designers first collaboration with Swarovski. Cover picture of Ron Arad at his studio in London, working on the Alphabet & Letters collection.

The world's leading designers including Ron Arad, Daniel Libeskind and the late Zaha Hadid have created glimmering, crystalline pieces for the new Atelier Swarovski Home collection launched for the first time in Milan at Palazzo Cagnola during the Salone del Mobile, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Additional reporting by Andrea Molteni 

Nadja Swarovski at Daniel Libeskind's studio 

THE most spectacular and avant-garde exhibitions held during Milan Design Week, in the past ten years, were the Swarovski Crystal Palace shows. Often exhilarating and inspiring, the shows aimed to demonstrate the beauty and creative potential of crystal as a material, utilising the artistic expression of different designers. Each year, Nadja Swarovski commissioned dramatic installations from leading international and emerging designers such as Marcel Wanders, Tokujin Yoshioka, Fredrikson Stallard, Ron Arad, Studio Job, Zaha Hadid, Jurgen Bey, Naoto Fukasawa, Ross Lovegrove and Gaetano Pesce. The Crystal Palace exhibitions showed cutting edge design that merged art, science and technology to form sculptural pieces, art objects and architectural installations.


Nadja Swarovski at the launch in Milan 

This year, putting all of that experimentation to practical use, the company launched the luxe Atelier Swarovski Home collection at the beautiful Palazzo Cagnola in Milan. The company worked with designers, many of whom have already collaborated with Swarovski on the Crystal Palace shows or other design projects. “We are delighted to be collaborating once again with so many incredible creative talents on these beautiful objects for the home,” says Nadja Swarovski. “This is a natural evolution for Atelier Swarovski and a great opportunity to showcase the art of crystal cutting in a range of designs and forms.” These new designs include bold pieces by Fredrikson Stallard, Aldo Bakker, Ron Arad, Tord Boontje, Kim Thomé, Yael Mer, Shay Alkalay and the late Zaha Hadid. The designers have used a mix of materials such as marble, metals and resins which are combined with crystal. New technologies developed by Swarovski are also used by the designers including laser-printing on crystal and a technique combining computer technology and mechanical engineering to cut curved forms in crystal. The Atelier Swarovski Home collections will have prices ranging from €250 to €20,000 and will be available later in the European autumn.

 Ron Arad with his new collection in Milan

Iconoclastic designer Ron Arad was part of the Crystal Palace initiative and some of his most innovative creations have been for Swarovski. For the new home accessories collection, he has designed Alphabet & Numbers, a collection of sparkling crystal digits, letters plus glistening bookends. Arad designed a new font for the project, creating curvaceous numerals and the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. The pieces are precision-cut and stand either 22cm or 13.5cm tall with Arad utilizing the purity of crystal for the designs. An industrial designer, architect and artist, Arad studied first at the Jerusalem Academy of Art before attending London's Architectural Association. He opened his studio in London in 1981 and has a wide ranging body of influential work from limited editions pieces and products for top design companies to public art works and architecture. He has been Professor of Design Product at the Royal College of Art and was elected a Royal Academician in 2013.


Nadja Swarovski at Daniel Libeskind's studio

For his first collaboration with Swarovski, architect Daniel Libeskind designed a championship‐size chess set, with pieces that are abstract versions of his most well-known buildings. While the board shows maps of Milan and NewYork, the two cities where he lives and works. The set uses materials from the world of construction such as
concrete, marble and aluminium as well as silver and crystal. The chess piece Kings are represented by the Freedom Tower in New York while the Queen is depicted as the City Life building in Milan. Both the King and Queen pieces are in crystal, the Bishop is in silver in the form of the L tower in Toronto, the Knight in dark marble, shaped like the Tor Di Valle in Rome. The Rook, made in concrete represents the Century Spire in Manila and the aluminium Pawn is the Pyramid in Jerusalem. The Polish born, American architect first came to prominence for his design for the Jewish Museum that opened in Berlin in 2001. Two years later his studio won the competition to rebuild the the World Trade centre in New York.

 Patrik Fredrikson & Ian Stallard with Iris 2011

Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard's Glaciarium collection is outstanding for its strong, abstract forms that reflect the natural, rocky shapes of crystal. There are glinting, organic candle holders, vases and bowls that are inspired by raw crystal yet created by special cutting techniques that enhance the material’s natural structure. Previous collaborations with Swarovski by the designers range from the enormous sculpture Prologue, four meters in diameter and inset with 8,000 crystals, to the Armory jewellery collection for Atelier Swarovski 2016.

Raw, abstract designs

Today, leaders of British avant-garde design, both Fredrikson and Stallard originally studied at Central St Martins College before beginning their collaboration in 1995 and opening their studio in London. Their work has been acquired by musuems including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the French National Art Collection, and has beeen shown at the Design Museum in London, MoMA and the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Fredrikson Stallard have also won awards, including the Red Dot Design Award and The Arts Foundation Furniture Design Fellowship, a competition held every 10 years.

Called Luxe Orbit, Tord Boontje's collection forms a group of glittering, curvaceous pieces sprinkled with sparkling crystals. The designer was inspired by patterns in nature, the cosmos, star formations and science fiction. “I see the crystals as small pieces of light and points of colour," says Boontje. "I imagine they could come from the other side of space or from the future." Scattered over the polished surfaces of ovals and

Tord Boontje at work at his London Studio

spheres, glinting crystals give the designs a futuristic yet romantic aesthetic. The collection includes lanterns, wine coolers, bowls and a caviar set in glass, Corian and crystal. Boontje began collaborating with Swarovski in 2002, and his signature fluid forms derived from nature can be found in work ranging from the luminescent cherry branch Blossom, to the Stellar Doma pendant light, a celebration of the night sky. The Dutch designer set up his studio in London in 1996, and has since created products including lighting, textiles, ceramics and furniture for some of the world's best design companies.

Kim Thome with his Plinth candle-holders

Kim Thomé collaborated with Swarovski last year, designing an 18 metre tall sculpture called Zotem at the Victoria &Albert Museum, created with more than 600 bespoke crystals. For the new homewares collection he's designed Plinth, a collection of candle-holders with a stainless steel base and a halo of crystal above. The Donuts series are palm-sized candle holders made of crystals, each with a different, jewel-coloured hue. The Norwegian-born Thomé is a talented young designer who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2012 and now runs his own studio in London.

Tomas Alonso at his studio in London

Spanish designer Tomás Alonso's new work follows the series he showed with Swarovski at Design Miami/Basel in 2015. Called Prism, his latest home collection encompasses colourful trays, centrepieces and bowls with brilliant, faceted crystals.The pieces are made from both crystal and marble prisms that are bonded together. The combination of colour and precisely-cut angles produces varied plays of light and colour. After 10 years working and studying in the USA, Australia and Italy, Tomás Alonso went to London to do a Master's at the Royal College of Art and has run his own design studio there since 2007. He won the Swarovski Designers of the Future Award in 2015.

Aldo Bakker at his studio in Amsterdam

Designing for the first time for Swarovski, Aldo Bakker has created a collection of modular vases in marble and crystal, with strong compact forms that are like crystalline jewellery boxes. The base of the vases acts as a shallow water pool while the sides are made of three interconnecting elements in either faceted marble or crystal, creating a varied play of light. Both ambiguous and abstract, the engaging designs play on one part fits with another. Aldo Bakker was born in the Netherlands and first trained as a silversmith, working to commission, and setting up his own studio in 1994. His father, designer Gijs Bakker, was one of the influential founders of Droog. Although Aldo hadn't initally wanted to be a designer, he eventually moved into furniture and product design, winning awards for his collections of glass and porcelain tableware. Today, he also teaches at the Design Academy at Eindhoven in the Netherlands.



Shay Alkalay & Yael Mer design their collection

Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of the award winning Raw Edges studio, created a collection of bowls and vases for their first collaboration with Swarovski. The designers used a new laser-jet, crystal printing technique to decorate their design of intersecting, crystals. Prints on the interior of the pieces produce colourful patterns on the different facets of the crystal. The reflections and different hues create an intriguing play of light. Mer and Alkalay were both born in Tel Aviv and studied at the Royal College of Art in London under Ron Arad. In 2007, they set up their own studio in London, designing furniture, products and installations including commissions for Cappellini, Established & Sons, and Stella McCartney among others.

Nadja Swarovski with Zaha Hadid's Crista

Architect Zaha Hadid, who died suddenly last month, worked with Nadja Swarovski extensively in the past decade including projects such as the spiralling light installations at Salone del Mobile in 2008, to the sculptural jewellery collection Glace for Atelier Swarovski two years later. For the new home collection, Hadid designed an imposing centrepiece in crystal and metal called Crista. Taking as its starting point an investigation into the process of crystallization occurring in nature, the design also uses Swarovski’s innovative technology for cutting curves into crystal. Hadid originally founded her practice in London in 1979 and became one of the most influential and innovative architects in the world, winning many awards for her work, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Click or scroll through photographs to see the designers' work in their studios.

Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer at their North London studio at work on their new collection for Swarovski.



The designers test out different colours for the crystal bowls and centre pieces

This is the first time Swarovski have used a new technique to print directly on to crystal prisms, after the designers have designed the pattern.

The designers with their finished collection exhibited at Milan's Palazzo Cagnola

Colourful crystals help to inspire the jewel-like colours of Norwegian designer Kim Thome's collection

 The designer works at his London studio creating a series of steel and crystal candle holders. Kim Thomé first collaborated with Swarovski last year, designing an 18 metre tall sculpture called Zotem at the Victoria &Albert Museum, created with more than 600 bespoke crystals.

 For the new homewares collection Thome's designed Plinth, a collection of candle-holders with a stainless steel base and a halo of crystal above.

 Kim Thome's finished Plinth and Donut collection. The Donut series are palm-sized candle holders made of crystals, each with a different, jewel-coloured hue.

Exhibited at the Palazzo Cagnola in Milan, Kim Thome's new crystal and steel candle holders

 Designer Tord Boontje at his London studio in Shoreditch

The designer works on sketches for his Luxe Orbit collection inspired by the night sky.“I see the crystals as small pieces of light and points of colour," says Boontje. "I imagine they could come from the other side of space or from the future."

Crystals and drawings for the new Tord Boontje range for Swarovski

Tord Boontje's renderings and drawings preparing for the new collection.

Shown in Milan, during the Salone Del Mobil, Boontje's finished Luxe Orbit collection

Spanish designer Tomas Alonso at his studio in London working on his colourful, prism-like collection

Tomas Alonso's drawings with the crystal and marble he will use in his designs

Like gleaming jewels, the collection by Tomas Alonso shown during Milan Design Week

Designers Patrik Fredrikson & Ian Stallard have already worked with Swarovski on vast projects from their Prologue installation to smaller pieces such as the Amory jewellery collection.

Fredrikson Stallard's Glaciarium collection is outstanding for its strong, abstract forms that reflect the natural, rocky shapes of crystal.

There are glinting, organic candle holders, vases and bowls that are inspired by raw crystal yet created by special cutting techniques that enhance the material’s natural structure. 

Designer Aldo Bakker at his Amsterdam studio with shelves of models behind him

 Aldo Bakker was born in the Netherlands and first trained as a silversmith, working to commission, and setting up his own studio in 1994. His father, designer Gijs Bakker, was one of the influential founders of Droog.

Designing for the first time for Swarovski, Aldo Bakker has created a collection of modular vases in marble and crystal, with strong compact forms that are like crystalline jewellery boxes.

The base of the vases acts as a shallow water pool while the sides are made of three interconnecting elements in either faceted marble or crystal, creating a varied play of light.

Both ambiguous and abstract, the engaging designs by Aldo Bakker are intriguing, working out how one part fits with another.

 For his first collaboration with Swarovski, architect Daniel Libeskind designed a championship‐size chess set, with pieces that are abstract versions of his most well-known buildings.

The chess piece Kings are represented by the Freedom Tower in New York while the Queen is depicted as the City Life building in Milan.

Both the King and Queen pieces are in crystal, the Bishop is in silver in the form of the L tower in Toronto, the Knight in dark marble and shaped like the Tor Di Valle in Rome.

The chess set uses materials from the world of construction such as concrete, marble and aluminium as well as silver and crystal.

Daniel Libeskind's chess board shows maps of Milan and NewYork, the two cities where he lives and works.

For his new home accessories collection, Ron Arad designed Alphabet & Numbers, a range of sparkling crystal digits, letters plus glistening bookends.

Arad designed a new font for the project, creating curvaceous numerals and the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

The pieces are precision-cut and stand either 22cm or 13.5cm tall with Arad utilizing the purity of crystal for the designs. 

Ron Arad was part of the Crystal Palace initiative and some of his most innovative creations have been for Swarovski.

For Atelier Swarovski's new home collection, the late Zaha Hadid designed an imposing centrepiece in crystal and metal called Crista. 

Taking as its starting point an investigation into the process of crystallization occurring in nature, Hadid's design also uses Swarovski’s innovative technology for cutting crystal.

The Atelier Swarovski Home collection exhibited at the beautiful Palazzo Cagnola in Milan.

The Australian Connection: Fashion Designers in Paris

In Paris, Australian business director Luka Maich with fashion designer Lui Hon. Their label's runway show was the second time they have presented a new collection in the French capital. Cover picture of Kym Ellery's Paris show, designer portraits and fashion photographs all by Elli Ioannou

Paris draws designers from all over the world for its ready-to-wear and haute couture fashion weeks. Our special correspondent Elli Ioannou writes that if Australian designers want to show their work on an international stage Paris is the best place to be

The poetry of fashion at Lui Hon  

AUSTRALIAN fashion designers in Paris during this season's autumn/winter 2016 fashion week included Lui Hon, Kym Ellery, Akira Isogawa and jeweller Will Hanigan. Showing in Paris for a second time, designer Lui Hon and business partner Luka Maich both agree it is important to be in the French capital. They say Europe is often more reflective of the label's aesthetic than Australia. For Lui Hon, the poetry of fashion is a key element inspiring his work. Hon's current collection's theme is inspired by water, a metaphor for the fluid and adaptable designs that are integral to his oeuvre. Many of the key pieces can be worn in different of ways: reversed, worn upside down and even back to front.

Lui Hon's fluid & adaptable design

Some pieces have inbuilt ties which enable the wearer to style and wear the same garment differently each time. Founded in Melbourne seven years ago with Luka Maich, the brand manufactures its garments locally. Lui Hon, an RMIT design graduate, got his big break creatively after being a finalist on the television series Project Runway. He says working on designs for the show was a catalyst for discovering his own design ethos which continues to sustain his approach today. Asked about their unique symbiotic relationship working together as designer and business director, Luka Maich says: “We are open and transparent about everything that happens in the both the business and creative areas. Of course Lui is the designer, but each step is overseen by both of us. We are hands on with all aspects of the label, we want to make it work." How did they meet? “Where many great relationships begin,” says Maich. “At a party!”

Akira Isogawa shows his new collection in Paris

Akira Isogawa is one of Australia’s most well-established fashion designers, with great success not only locally but also in Paris. Isogawa has been coming to France since 1998, exhibiting as well as selling his clothing by liaising directly with his buyers. The designer's preference to not show via a traditional runway has meant he can sustain and control his own vision, and continue to produce the high level of quality he aimed for since the brand’s inception. The designer describes his autumn/winter 2016 collection as being about beautifying our world with a suggestion of ancient Japan. The garments have an allure created by layers, subtle details, patch-working, and contrasting elements of dark and light.


Isogawa's rich colour & drapery

Isogawa likes to use traditional Japanese designs and techniques using natural fabrics to create these stratified, intricate ensembles. He devotes a lot of time to textile design, using techniques such as dying, folding, embroidery, printing and hand painting. His clothes use rich colour but have draped, androgynous shapes. The designer originally moved to Australia from Japan to study fashion at the Sydney Institute of Technology. He opened his boutique in Sydney's Woollahra in 1993 and was showing during Australian Fashion Week three years later before taking his collections to international buyers in Paris. The designer has collaborated on dance productions, won awards and been the subject of exhibitions at the National Gallery of Victoria as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Today, Isogawa has boutiques in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Will Hanigan & Iskra Galic in Paris

Will Hanigan describes himself as a Yawuru man, a designer and fifth generation pearl diver from Broome. Hanigan began his design journey at nineteen with a six month stint in Japan in the pearl trade. One of his first designs was a piece of crocodile leather, originally with teeth adorning it, that Hanigan replaced by pearls. Initially, diving himself  the designer also bought from his father, a major international wholesaler of pearls. Asked about how his Aboriginal identity influences his work today, Hanigan says: “It’s important to understand there is spirituality involved in being Aboriginal, understanding the properties of the stones and metals from this perspective is integral for me and akin to the Indian Ayurveda philosophy. I see the crocodile as one of my totems and often the shapes of my earring pendants are tiny shells I find when I’m on the beach in Broome where I grew up.” Talking about his dream for his designs and brand, he describes how he would like to bring pearls into haute couture fashion. “I'd like to bridge the gap between what is high fashion and fine quality jewellery, with an aesthetic that is fashionable and desirable. No one is really doing that using South Sea pearls.” Today, Will Hanigan is based in New York, with his partner Iskra Galic (pictured) and would like to expand his brand in Europe.

Ellery's '70s inspired runway show in Paris

Kym Ellery is only the second Australia-based designer (after Collette Dinnigan) to be invited by France's Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode to show her collection during the official Paris Fashion Week schedule. This season her runway show at the uber contemporary Palais des Tokyo, presented metallic gold and bronze dresses, dress shirts, leather and velevet frocks, fur coats and tweed ankle length coats tied with long straps. Diaphanous, white shirt dresses with billowing Laura Ashley styled sleeves and leather ankle boots, combined a breezy Australian style with a soignee Parisian silhouette that seemed to capture the essence of Antipodean success in the French capital. Raised in Perth, Kym Ellery first created her brand Ellery in Sydney in 2007. Today, she works with mills in Switzerland and Italy to develop innovative new textiles while keeping the production of the clothes in Sydney. Initially, she did a university fashion design and production degree, followed by a summer course at London’s Central St Martins plus four years working at Australian RUSSH magazine, before she got her break via a Vogue shoot.

The Creative Universe of Japanese Design House Issey Miyake

Rehearsals in Paris for Issey Miyake's AW16 runway show with models wearing the design house's finely-pleated sculptural creations. Cover picture and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

In Paris, our special correspondent and photographer Elli Ioannou went backstage to shoot the elaborate preparations for the Issey Miyake AW16 show and attended the launch of a comprehensive new book about the Japanese designer's life and work by Taschen

Homage to Issey Miyake's signature style

ONE of the many traits which separates Issey Miyake from other haute couture creative directors is his approach to nurturing young designers. The Japanese designer gives them a platform from which they can develop their skills and talent and offers a five year tenure. Yoshiyuki Miyamae is Issey Miyake's current womens' wear designer since 2010 but has been a member of the design team since 2006, under Dai Fujiwara. The AW16 womens’ range in Paris is a visual homage to the origins of the Issey Miyake signature style including traditional shapes, colours and textures and using his innovative fusion of technology, art and fashion. Called Beyond, the collection drew its inspiration from the vastness of the universe and beauty born from a piece of cloth using Miyake's “baked stretch” and “3D steam stretch” techniques.

The fabric's 'memory' holds the pleats

It was during the late 1980s when Miyake began to experiment with new methods of pleating that would allow flexibility of movement for the wearer as well as ease of care and production. The garments are cut and sewn first, then sandwiched between layers of paper and fed into a heat press, where they are pleated. The fabric's 'memory' holds the pleats, when it is liberated from the paper cocoon, it is ready to wear.

Backstage the special make-up is created

Leading up to the fashion house's latest show, preparations by the Miyake production teams happen simultaneously and very calmly. At times
it appears more like a theatre rehearsal: testing the lighting, runway, choreography, model positions and last minute alterations to the clothes. The electronic sounds of experimental duo Ei Wada and Haruka Yoshida from the Open Reel Ensemble play ecstatically, oblivious to all the activity around them. Gathering before the show are invited guests, an array of VIP’s, buyers, shop managers and press from the Issey Miyake global team. They are all wearing complete Issey Miyake ensembles and carrying a version of the must-have Bao Bao bag. By the final rehearsal, it feels like a full house with at least 150 people sitting in the audience.

On the runway, working on the show's rehearsal

The rehearsals before fashion shows offer a special time also for photographers to capture something different. Without an audience there is an unusual intimacy between the photographer and the models. Then the show finally opens in almost complete darkness, the intricate sounds of the Open Reel Ensemble set the atmosphere for the collections’ theme of Beyond. The ensemble, who appear more like scientists than musicians, immerse the audience in an all-encompassing experience of sound amid the blackness, apart from some light coming from the sound stage and mist rising from below.

Musicians Ei Wada & Haruka Rashida in Paris

Ei Wada and Haruka Roshida also created an instrument, the Kankisenthizer which they use during the show. It’s purpose being to explore light being transformed into sound. A machine using photosensitive sensors create the light the audience sees transmitted via the blades of exhaust fans. A burst of white light, reveals models coming down a metallic runway wearing colours of royal red, fuchsia pink and aqua blue with strong textures and origami-like shapes. Welcome to the deep and atmopsheric universe of Issey Miyake.

Dickenson at the book launch

To coincide with the AW16 Paris show, the fashion house  also launched the simply-titled Issey Miyake published by Taschen at the Paris flagship store. An international and cosmopolitan crowd of guests gathered for the book launch and had the opportunity to preview the large coffee-table book that draws on more than 40 years of collaborative work with Miyake. A comprehensive and encyclopedic reference, the book covers all of the designer's fabric and technical innovations through his designs. There are also privileged behind-the-scenes, including stories from one of Issey Miyake’s early models from the Eighties, Debbie Dickinson.

Backstage in Paris for Issey Miyake's AW16 runway show with models wearing the design house's finely-pleated sculptural creations. Cover picture and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

Growing organically like a fern frond, a detail of the decoration integral to one of Issey Miyake's new pieces shown on the AW16 runway in Paris

Models wait to walk on to the runway at Issey Miyake's AW16 show in Paris

Enveloped by flowing, pleated long jackets, models strut the runway during rehearsals

Long, black leather boots contrast with the airy lightness of Miyake's creations

 Mist rises during the atmospheric show set to the intricate sounds of the Open Reel Ensemble

 A model has her make-up created before the runway show

Alterations are made to the clothes during the rehearsals in Paris

Models are instructed about the choreography of the Parisian show 

A cylindrical dress in red with pleats that seem to wrap around the body

Brilliant colour was mixed with strong, asymmetrical shapes to create the new Issey Miyake show

 Photographer Elli Ioannou captures the subtle movement of the Miyake clothes on the runway

Architectural in its conception, this long coat was one of the stand out pieces in the new collection

A graphic piece of designer Issey Miyake's work on show at the launch of the book about his life and work in Paris

A guest at the Taschen book launch wears a stylish, pleated hat that captures the Miyake aesthetic

The new book launched in Paris about the designer's work and his avant-garde techniques using different fabrics

The New Theatre of Fashion: Street Style in Paris at Valentino

 Photographers on the white carpet outside the Valentino AW16 ready-to-wear show in the Jardin des Tuilieries in Paris. Cover picture and photograph (above) by Elli Ioannou

What people are wearing outside fashion shows has become almost as important as what models are wearing inside on designers' runways. Our correspondent in Paris Elli Ioannou captures in words and pictures the theatrical scene outside the balletic Valentino show at the Jardin des Tuileries

 Wearing top-to-toe Valentino

STREET style photography is now an integral part of fashion weeks in Paris, London, Milan and New York, alongside magazine and newspaper reports about what is shown on designer runways. A whole industry has sprung up devoted to capturing looks outside the shows from the outrageous to the pert and pretty. Press photographers, bloggers and fashonistas all vie for shots that will be sent around the world via online publications and social media to reach a fashion hungry audience. The army of fashionistas, guests and posers that gather outside designers' shows attracts photographers from the around the world and is made even more ubiquitous thanks to digital cameras and the onslaught of the fashion blog.

Fashionable duo outside Valentino 

However, because of the Paris attacks last November, security was heightened at this March's Autumn/Winter 2016 womenswear shows and the French chamber of commerce stated that the location of venues was not to be released publicly. Yet swarms of photographers still appeared outside shows, including the beautifully balletic Valentino ready-to-wear collection. Clearly the street style photographers have become more resourceful and information spreads like wildfire among the blogger pack. On day eight of a mostly wet and grey Paris Fashion Week, the sun finally shone for the new Valentino collection created by the brilliant Italian design duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli. The fashion house thoughtfully laid out a long, white winding carpet from the street to its show at Espace Éphémère Tuileries in the Jardin Des Tuileries.

Stylishly rugged up before the show

As guests exited the elegant and romantic collection, they themselves offered a visual feast for all of the press waiting outside. After the show, they provided a dash of colour and flair against the leafless trees and cumulus clouds silhouetted against the gardens. Some wore eccentric concoctions that bore no relation to fashion trends and others were encased in head-to-toe Valentino ~ mostly worn with white Adidas sneakers. Journalists, photographers and fans alike lined up along the white ‘catwalk’ outside the entrance to the show, in what felt like the Oscars of the fashion world. The guests expect to be photographed and most are obliging and happy to stop and a pose. But as a photographer, you still need to be fast , and assertive to set up a shot that is slightly different from all of the rest jostling to get a great image.



A model is photographed after the runway show 

When all of the guests are gone, the fresh-faced, young models exit after their job on the runway is over and they stop to pose for the waiting crowds. The Valentino models came out with their hair in sleek ballerina buns and pale, softly made-up faces. There is a whole subculture dedicated to photographing the models after the shows. The new paparazzi, are not mean, invasive or rude but they are avid photography and fashion enthusiasts and it offers many a chance to get a professional start in Paris, as the shows are notoriously difficult to get an official invite to. Social media and digital technology have made what used to be strictly industry-only events for top magazines, serious buyers and celebrities accessible to a much wider audience.

Kristina Bazan outside Valentino

Now fashion pictures appear in real time on Instagram, blogs and Facebook posts. No longer is it ‘street style’ where people are captured going about their business in cities but the fashionista outside the shows offers a carefully calibrated look and performance. It is an act in which both the subject and the photographer are willing participants. Artistic self expression, beauty and fantasy are all part of what makes up fashion street style that seemingly provides an endless source of fascination to the waiting photographers and fans. In Paris, if what was happening inside at the shows was exciting, outside the theatre of fashion was providing another, more egalitarian source of inspiration and entertainment.

Braving the wintry weather, a fashionista in brilliant red captures the attention of waiting photographers

 A stylishly eclectic mother and daughter walk the white carpet at Valentino in Paris

A Nehru-collared suit covered in hand-printed drawings and a dramatically fringed shawl made this this couple one of the most photographed in the Jardin des Tuileries 

An emerald green silk trench coat worn by a Valentino guest stood out against the grey Parisian day

Dressed for maximum theatrical attention, this fashionista was one of the most photographed people outside the Valentino show

An elaborately embroidered overcoat was mixed up with white Adidas trainers captured the fashion mood in Paris for Autumn/Winter 2016