French designer Maxime Simoens presented his Ready-to-Wear collection for the first time ever at Paris Fashion Week during the Autumn Winter 2013 season, after his long stretch of doing solely couture in his designing career.
For a start, this great move was opportune for the young 27-year-old designer whose couture dresses have always been iconic for their slender silhouettes that wrap around a woman’s curvature, accentuating her figure in all ways possible- be it a body-conscious dress, or even his much-talked-about purple silk dress that Beyonce wore on the cover of her ‘Deluxe’ album.
This being his debut RTW collection, all eyes were literally on him at the fashion week in Paris during the first-week of March, where it seems appropriate that he was onboard the Swarovski Collective that supports the works of cutting edge designers, joining the likes of fellow PFW designer Masha Ma, as well as Mary Katrantzou from London, Rodarte at New York Fashion Week and many more.
It will be my first show on the Ready-to-Wear schedule! A new experience after my Couture Shows. Swarovski has represented elegance and refinement for over a century. It’s a partner who helps to associate creativity and “savoir-faire” of our houses.
– Maxime Simoens
With this partnership, his ‘Swan Lake’-inspired collection has certainly gotten its dash of gleam and its representations of white and black swans in the designs, be it on the textured feather-like fur jackets or the tonal velvet looks, and more noticeably on the floor-grazing gown from the collection, that were adorned with exquisitely-crafted crystal embellishments from Swarovski.
Though his silhouettes may be simple or even somewhat repetitive, with inclusions of occasional colour-blocking and geometrical lines, the sense of appropriateness balanced his fashion equation in sticking to his signature look, which is always to stay sleek, refined, elegant and never to stray.
And for this, his collection alongside his partnership with Swarovski represents a true stepping out of the couture shell yet retaining a sense of luxury in Parisian prêt-a-porter wear.
Thanks to Swarovski, we have with us here an exclusive behind-the-scenes video footage of Maxime Simoens at his Paris Fashion Week A/W 2013 show that they have sent to us. Discover as he talks about his partnership with Swarovski as well as the techniques that he has used in the application of crystals on his designs.
COUTURE TROOPERS MAGAZINE 