Color and movement dominated the Oscar Carvallo SS14 collection, shown on January 21st at the Paris haute couture fashion week. The collection is an inspiration and collaboration of two artists, Oscar Carvallo the designer and Carlos Cruz-Diez, the painter. Cruz-Diez create six tableaux (see here and here) for the collection and Carvallo’s creations were all directly inspired from them using fabrics and textiles, prints and construction of the different pieces to illustrate the works of art and bring them to life via the moment of the female body.

“Voyage cinétique II” was the title of the Carvallo show, and this is the second time the two artists have collaborated. The first time being in 2009 in an event held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. But in addition to this inspiration, Carvallo also managed to insert very subtle inspirations as well, such as :  “medieval armor, futurism, organic shapes inspired by nature, British fashion of the early seventies, Twiggy, David Bowie, technology and nostalgia of French lace” [source]. Indeed those leggings certainly had me thinking of Twiggy and the 70’s. It was a fascinating combination of psychedelic stripes, strips of flexible metal, and that recognizable Carvallo cut of the cloth. I found it thrilling and exciting to witness something so different, an artistic reflection and conceptualization at the Paris Haute Couture week, and this is one of the reasons why I love couture. It pushes the boundaries of fashion to artistic heights that prête-à-porter doesn’t necessarily do (well, some designers do), but Carvallo infuses great doses of this sort of inspiration into his couture fashion designs.

His 3rd appearance at Paris Haute Couture week, he is still not on the official calendar, but no matter. His first concern is the brand, the design and what will next inspire his work. After a fairly long wait, and a venue that was full to almost cracking, models walked down a mirrored catwalk, to electronic music composed by KTRS, which helped set a very psychedelic mood. It was entrancing, and vibrant. I cannot wait to see what is up his sleeves for next season.

See my reviews of his previous collections shown in Paris : Spring 2013, and Fall 2013.

My video of parts of the SS14 show :

Oscar Carvallo SS14 Haute Couture from Prete Moi Paris on Vimeo.

The following images are from from the official Oscar Carvallo site :