“Curvy women no longer have a hard time existing,” Belgian designer Ester Manas, known for her one-size-fits-all dresses and who delivered her version of the “summer body” to AFP, told AFP on Saturday. Fashion Week in Paris.
The sensual spring-summer 2023 collection reveals skin and curves: “It’s the house’s DNA, let’s be clear.”
Baptized “Sunset body” (“Body at sunset”), it is a reflection on the “summer body”, the most perfect line possible that one is supposed to have to go to the beach, by dint of diets and sport.
“The collection started from the fact that many women have a somewhat ridiculous obsession, which is the + summer body +. We asked ourselves the question: + What is it? The body in which we will love ourselves best + “, explains the designer behind the scenes of the show at the Palais de Tokyo.
The “second skin” dresses are one size and stretchy, a hallmark of the duo composed of Ester Manas and Balthazar Delepierre, semi-finalists of the LVMH Prize in 2020 and winners of the Galeries Lafayette Prize at the Hyères International Festival in 2018 for their collection “Big Again”.
The palette copies that of sunset, vibrant with pink, orange, purple or lavender. The outfits are adorned with ruffles and frills, just to “make waves” and above all to get noticed and affirm: “I exist”.
Fashion “must bend”
In addition to the evening dresses that we put on after a day at the beach with sandy hair, the collection offers very high-cut swimsuits and sexy wedding dresses.
Coming from the Anglo-Saxon countries, the “body positive” movement, which fights against stereotyped norms, is gaining ground in France and infiltrating the catwalks – the round American star model Ashley Graham thus paraded for Balmain on Wednesday in a mini- dress–, without however making the law.
“With social networks, there is a takeover of round women where they were lonely before. There is a huge community that is being created where they can discuss with each other and assert themselves”, underlines Ester Manas.
“There is something very reassuring in it. Since the customers, the girls in the street, want that, fashion has to bend,” she adds, even if her show is an exception. which proves the rule.
“Democratize fashion”
The round “exist, but not necessarily in luxury where it is a little difficult to have access to beautiful things when you are + large size +. That’s what we are trying to change”.
The stylist is for the “total democratization” of fashion, which she considers too “elitist”.
“Thin women also buy from us, the goal is for us all to be at the same table,” she concludes.
“It’s a huge show and I’m happy to be part of it,” British model Alva Claire told AFP. “Look at this casting, it’s the future of fashion”!
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp