Alexandre Vauthier Jean Paul Gaultier Julien Fournié

There’s fashion – and then there’s haute couture. It’s a sacred craft, worshipped by many and worn by a lucky few; and every season the fashion pack gather in Paris to pay tribute to its masters. This week was no different, as fashion editors and clients (the latter famously discreet about their costly purchases) descended upon the French capital to marvel at the otherworldly spectacle.

Haute couture uses only the most noble of materials and of course furs from Saga Furs® are always at the heart of the autumn/winter couture collections. This season, designers put fox and mink styles to extraordinary use, applying them imaginatively to lingerie and working them into fantastical proportions. “Even in the current financial climate, couture is still relevant – and probably more so than ever. Haute couture reminds us of the importance of dreams – through its fantasy world of unparalleled creativity it continues to feed ideas through to the prêt-a-porter,” commented Mark Townsend, Head of Marketing and Communication at Saga Furs.  

One of the hottest names to arrive recently on the couture calendar is Alexandre Vauthier. With a pedigree background (he has worked for Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier), Vauthier is every inch the high fashion architect and theatrical talent. His furs are at the centre of his polished and unabashedly glamorous universe, all done in a strong-shouldered triangle shape which calls to mind Helmut Newton’s late seventies Amazons. This season, his disco-infused show at the Institute du Monde Arabe had guests sending longing glances after slinky white dresses with dyed black Saga Furs® blue fox bubble sleeves or caplet bodies. Another stunning piece was a gleaming dyed black Saga Furs® blue fox sheared bodice, constructed on top of a figure-hugging black dress.

Vauthier’s previous employer, Jean Paul Gaultier, sent out a fur-filled collection of rich, jewel-coloured glamour and opulence. From Saga Furs® shadow fox wraps to Swarovski-encrusted biker jackets lined with Saga Furs® white mink – the show had it all. There was drama – the lavish Old Hollywood-style Saga Furs® silver fox stoles. There was stealth luxury – wraps lined with Saga Furs® scanbrown mink. There were covetable accessories – turbans in Saga Furs® scanbrown mink and Saga Furs® scanblack mink clutch bags. And there was naughty, unexpected sass – a chic little dress with a pointy bra crafted from Saga Furs® scanblack mink and a sexy Victorian get-up with a Saga Furs® scanblack mink-trimmed corset and knickers. Astrid Lehaire, Saga Furs’ French representative, commented: “It really was a quintessentially Gaultier show. Saga Furs have a longstanding working relationship with Mr Gaultier and he never fails to surprise us – I thought the mink brassieres were an especially lovely touch this season.” The show was a strictly A-list event: burlesque star, Dita Von Teese, performed in lingerie by Gaultier for La Perla, while her boyfriend, Louis Marie de Castelbajac, and his father, iconic designer Jean Charles de Castelbajac, sat front row with Catherine Deneuve.

Another interesting couture designer is Julien Fournié, who uses fur to a great effect in his quiet and intellectualised collections. This time, the designer took his cue from the gloomy notion of martyrs, which translated into beautiful, fluid evening dresses with a hint of the medieval and expertly crafted corseted gowns with sweeping tails. A short, flesh-coloured sheer dress had a skirt made out of bands of dyed brown blue fox, which acted as a ‘now you see it, now you don’t’-agent, accentuated by the soft fur wafting up and down to reveal skin as the models moved down the runway. Other pieces included lightweight gowns with wispy strips of dyed blue Saga Furs® silver fox trailing down the skirt and a black number where pompoms of dyed black Saga Furs® blue fox were artfully dotted across the chest.