Gender Fades From Curriculum as Institut Fran?ais de la Mode Opens Paris Fashion Week
PARIS — Opening Paris Fashion Week for the second time, the Institut Fran?ais de la Mode’s MA graduate show came with a change: the traditional divide between women’s and men’s fashion design has been dropped from the fashion course description.
The gesture felt congruent with a current leaning toward coed runways but also reflected rising generations approach fashion, said the school’s general manager Xavier Romatet.
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“In general, [they] abolish boundaries, be they gender or those between physical and digital. For us, it’s a talking point, but to them, it goes beyond negating differences — it’s a non-topic. [This generation] abolishes any barriers they consider an obstacle to creative expression,” added Romatet, praising the “vision, this identity they create through garments and in which gender isn’t necessarily a relevant distinction.”
Masks, featured with most looks, further blurred the features, leaving body shapes and attitudes to do the talking. Romatet explained students had been asked to “consider the head as an integral part of [the silhouette].”
Showcased in a film that blended the reality of physical looks with digitally scanned versions and imaginary landscapes, they contributed to an eerie escapade that segued into the work of the class’ image-making students.
The 45-designer class of 2022 explored a range of themes, including traditional men’s loungewear, which Guillemette Jozan spotlighted with gender-free knitwear using different thread weights to create transparent effects; anti-racism, which saw Man Hei Carrie Keung figure the universality of human bone structure in abstract structures assembled together to form her designs, and the impact of today’s tools on self-image, with Hugo Castejon-Blanchard recreating male social media poses of bared abs, trousers undone just so, shirts left gaping.
Other standouts from this year’s lineup included Lou Comte’s knitwear that followed rather than defined the body’s curves; the designs of Claire Barreau, who likewise designed for the body as-is, rather than use garments as a way to shape it; Maria Siqueira, who mined her Portuguese heritage for voluminous looks that blended traditional silhouettes and new techniques like flexible 3D-printed panels, and Ibrahima Gueye, who transcribed male-oriented rituals of his homeland of Senegal into a wardrobe for women.
FOR MORE, SEE ALSO:
France’s Leading Fashion School Inaugurates New Campus
Chanel and Institut Fran?ais de la Mode Launch Academic Chair
Meet the First Fashion Graduates of Institut Fran?ais de la Mode
Launch Gallery: Institut Fran?ais de la Mode Graduate Show 2022
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