Meet the New Guard of Haute Couture Designers
Fendi, Chanel, Dior. Those names are all synonymous with haute couture. Each season, the biggest heritage houses pull out all the stops to show handmade creations from start to finish on the runway. Embroidery, beadwork, hand-sewn sequins? Nothing is off-limits.
Beside them, the few remaining French couture houses, both old and new, show on the official schedule, such as Alexandre Vauthier and Franck Sorbier. And each season, along with those names, a small handful of emerging guest designers are carefully selected by the exacting committee of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to present their collections. These emerging couture designers tend to shake things up, whether they focus on sustainability or present aesthetics that feel fresh for the world of haute couture. Here, meet a few new names to know from the spring 2022 haute couture season.
Aelis
Founded by Sofia Crociani in 2017, Aelis is one of youngest brands that has ever been invited to show at Haute Couture Fashion Week. The label often shows futuristic, feminine designs, and Crociani in particular is inspired by her “time immersed in the peace and nature in Tuscany where my sustainable couture creations are born.” For her spring 2022 collection, she was inspired by virtual communication. “The vision of the future has nourished my creative sensitivity, which has also found through new technologies a form of complete expression and, at the same time, in continuous evolution,” she says.
Charles de Vilmorin
Another young couture designer to watch is Charles de Vilmorin, who launched his brand in 2020. After being named artistic director of Rochas, he debuted a successful first collection full of exploding geometric colors and shapes. For his spring 2022 collection, he took inspiration from “sewing during the pandemic” and “the need for everyone to dream and tell stories. Sewing has always had the objective to do good, to deliver messages and tell stories, which is why its ambition was even more during this pandemic. Everyone needed creativity, rarity, beauty, and poetry.”
Julie de Libran
With an impressive résumé, including years as the artistic director of Sonia Rykiel and for Gianfranco Ferré, Gianni Versace, Prada, and Louis Vuitton, Julie de Libran has been around the fashion world long enough to gain a following for her own work. In 2019, she launched her own couture line and has since specialized in sleek day dresses and formalwear, with a sustainability bent. “I have been working with leftover materials mills that I have been working with since my many years in the industry with a mindful production, and all garments are one-of-a-kind made-to-measure couture pieces or in numbered limited very small series, so with less waste as possible,” de Libran explains of her ethos.
Imane Ayissi
Though Imane Ayissi has been around since the 1990s, he made history in January 2020 as the first designer from sub-Saharan Africa to enter the official haute couture calendar—and still stands as an emerging name to watch in the space. Ayissi first began modeling for Lanvin, Givenchy, and Dior in the 1990s, and eventually founded his couture label in 2004. “This period was the occasion for me to immerse myself in books on traditions, and particularly African traditions, in terms of textiles,” he says of his spring 2022 collection. "My inspirations for this collection were the mixture between the two, the changes of the actual world and the traditions, sometimes dreamed.
Celia Kritharioti
Celia Kritharioti creates whimsically floaty gowns inspired by her Greek heritage. Though her couture house has a long history, she is a relatively new name to the mainstream couture scene, as her first show in Paris took place in 2017. “My aim and my wish is to make women look the most beautiful they can, not just to create a beautiful dress,” Kritharioti says. One of her favorite techniques to use is moulage, in which she starts constructing a creation on a mannequin, then applies embroidery—a technique she utilized in her spring 2022 collection.
Yuima Nakazato
Founded in 2009, Yuima Nakazato made its Paris Haute Couture Week debut in 2017. Nakazato has since become one of the most innovative emerging designers to watch during couture week. He consistently puts forward ideas that feel new and exciting in the couture space, like a previous collection of modular garments, or his spring 2022 collection, which took inspiration from the “Chimera, a fantastical creature long relegated to the world of myth and legend.” The result was a plethora of rainbow-hued garments and hair to match—a welcome brightness during a season of many neutrals.
Yanina Couture
“Our aesthetic is about the love of wearing couture,” Yulia Yanina, the founder of Yanina Couture, says. Yanina founded her line more than 20 years ago in Moscow, but just came onto the scene in Paris a little more than five years ago. She is now known for her extravagant, over-the-top gowns. Think: pigmented shades of the rainbow and beautiful surface embellishments, like crystals and sequins.
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