Paris couture: Margiela returns as Haute Couture member, Peet Dullaert to officially debut

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Dec 19, 2023

Maison Margiela and John Galliano will return as Haute Couture member to the runway in the next Paris couture season in January, when Peet Dullaert will also make his Paris debut as a guest member.

In a busy season, a total of 30 houses are listed on the official calendar, a copy of which has been released by the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, which controls all catwalk seasons in Paris. Forget the current weak luxury market, interest in Paris couture has rarely been more intense.
 
Maison Margiela, the conceptual fashion marque’s couture division, will stage the final show of the four-day season, which runs from Monday morning, January 22 until Thursday evening, January 25 in Paris.

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The house’s creative director John Galliano’s last major foray into couture was an epic multi-format show entitled Cinema Inferno, where an American road-movie psychodrama met a theatrical fantasy and phantasmagorical set inside the Palais de Chaillot. Galliano called it Spectral Cowboy prom queen couture, and the fashion flock can hardly wait for his next outing.
 
As has been the case in recent years, Schiaparelli will open the season, which features spring-summer 2024 clothes, created for an exclusive group of the one percent of the one percent. A clientele barely exceeding 5,000 customers, even including the movie stars that will flock to the collections in the hope of finding ideal looks for the next Oscar ceremonies. The 96th Academy Awards are due to take place on March 10, in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
 

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The season will also witness the official debut of Peet Dullaert, a Dutch-born designer based in Paris, who has won acclaim for his elegantly ethereal designs. A graduate of a top fashion school, ArtEZ University in Arnhem, Dullaert, 33, has already staged “couture” collections during the Paris season, but January would mark the first season as an official guest member of the Federation, a much sought after title for fledgling couturiers. And one that requires the approval of a FHCM committee consisting of historic couture houses.
 
During a busy week, mega brands such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Valentino and Fendi will all stage shows of couture.
 
Though perhaps the most anticipated will be Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the latest iteration of that house’s unique project of inviting in a guest designer each season. On Wednesday, January 24,  it is the turn of Simone Rocha, the award-winning Irish-born designer who was named Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2016 at the British Fashion Awards. Rocha succeeds such notables as Chitose Abe, Olivier Rousteing and Haider Ackermann at Gaultier.
 
Another returnee is Robert Wun, a Hong Kong-born designer and London College Fashion graduate who is also returning as a guest member.
 
All adding to what should be a bumper season of couture - the true laboratory of fashion and often the highest expression of this rarefied art form.