[Insert Fashion Here] | The Couture Catch Up | Vol. 1, Issue 1

I thought we'd start with something easy: The very height of luxury craftsmanship! Let's look back at Couture Week in Paris.

Photo by Julien Boudet

It's always been one of fashion's most divisive categories, inviting so few to its official ranks, and holding a fairly large share of the industry from labour to profit while serving a tiny sliver of consumers, but there are things about couture that won't be argued. It's where fashion transcends the functional requirements of everyday life, elevating design to a fine art. It's the category with the most room for our biggest ideas, our best stories and our wildest takes.

All that space comes at a high price tag, which I think is still the core argument against couture's relevance in the 21st Century (would anyone think couture was irrelevant if more of us could afford it?). Even if the world doesn't need couture, fashion as an industry and as a creative practice definitely does:

(Watch this, full screen, in HD, all the way to the end.)

Couture keeps craftsmanship alive at its highest level. [Maybe it's narrow-minded, but I don't mind a system in which the world's wealthy have to foot the bill for preserving fine craftsmanship.] It's a reminder of what fashion can be, in a world where its potential for substance and meaning continues to take a backseat to late-stage capitalism's priorities. Couture is mostly exempt from the ridiculous profit and product volume expectations that led to mass designer burnout in 2016-17. And for all our talk of its haughty cool, something at the heart of it is shifting. Couture is actually evolving in its mindset. Couture has heart again.

(This is from the show in March, but it makes my point.)

Best reads

1. While she was a style columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Christina Binkley stopped covering couture in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. She now says, “It was the worst decision I ever made. Not only did haute couture survive — it thrived.” (From Vogue Business newsletter) She writes about how that happened for Vogue Business.

2. Here at home, Daniël Geldenhuys (hi Daniël!!!) broke down in layman's terms the lessons this season taught us about couture's purpose, for The Way of Us.

3. Regarding the heart that's back at the centre of couture, Vanessa Friedman at the New York Times wrote about the Valentino show that had Naomi Campbell and Celine Dion crying. Back in December, she also gave her take on why haute couture is still relevant, or more accurately, why NYT bothers to cover it.

4. Vanessa again, discussing the rise of female Creative Directors at couture level and the impact they made this season. My favourite bit: "The three most famous French couture houses are now designed by women: at Chanel, Virginie Viard is artistic director; at Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri; and at Givenchy, Clare Waight Keller."

5. If Pierpaolo Piccioli's Valentino brought the heart, then newcomer Daniel Roseberry's Schiaparelli debut brought the joy. Check out the New York Times' review of his collection (3 for 3, I love NYT!) and their magazine's photo gallery of his final fittings. After a few seasons of searching, I think Schiaparelli's found her guy.

Best Street Style Galleries

1. Vogue still picks the best photographers in the game! Their gallery is a round-up of post-streetwear casualwear, a return to Parisian glam, and Celine freakin' Dion (who was not styled by Luxury Law this season!).

2. Staying with Vogue, have you seen their millennial/Gen Z global fashion vertical? They call it Vogueworld, and I'd love it if they gave it its own brand space. With the talent they have on board, it could do for them what Stella Bugbee's take on The Cut did for New York Magazine. Here's their take on Paris via street style vet Phil Oh.

3. I find Elle US's celebrity focus overwhelming for me so I prefer the UK's more balanced approach, but their street style gallery did that thing Elle does: Inviting the regular girl, the everywoman, into an approachable and achievable elegance.

I'm sad there's no Man Repeller gallery this couture season; they usually work with female photographers with perspective and personality and the results are always interesting!

Best Instagram Moments

Embed would not play nice, but I have links:

1. All the love for the atelier at the Valentino show, especially from Mr Garavani himself, was enough to make anyone cry. Pierpaolo Piccioli has brought heart to couture in a refreshing way, and I think history will love him for it.

2. Iris Van Herpen's show went somewhat viral with motion art by Anthony Howe. As you can imagine, the process film is a sight to behold.

3. This Guo Pei gemini moment went largely unnoticed, but I love it. The collection is called Alternate Universe and it's a bit of a departure from the MET Gala dress that broke the internet.

So! First one done! Thoughts? You know I want to hear them.

Modupe Oloruntoba - Fashion writer & content producer