“I like the clouds… the passing clouds… over there… over there… the wonderful clouds! These verses by Charles Baudelaire, along with texts by other poets such as Verlaine and Paul Eluard, were read out, almost whispered, in the centre of an old cobbled courtyard, by the actress Catherine Wilkening, dressed in a little paletot in shiny lace and guipure and a long, dark, wispy skirt with white polka dots. The tone was set. For autumn-winter 2024/25, Franck Sorbier chose to vary on the theme of the cottony clouds that he sees floating across the sky from the skylight of his bedroom.
The result is a poetic collection of weather-toned dresses and cloud silhouettes all in bubbling tulle, unveiled at a static presentation on the third day of Haute Couture Week on Wednesday in a historic building in Paris’s 17th arrondissement occupied by the law firm FTPA. Models with high buns like dancers unwraped their arms in graceful movements, standing on clouds of white fabric. In one corner, a man in a black frac and bowler hat took shelter under an umbrella, a mischievous nod to René Magritte’s cloudy paintings.
There’s a lot about bad weather in this collection. It’s not milky clouds that attract the Parisian couturier, but rather the dark rain clouds. With the exception of an all-white, doll-like garment worn by Vietnamese instagrammer Jessica Minh Anh – a fan of the house – and a few blue outfits, most of the collection featured grey tones, obtained by starting with a white or ecru background and layering it with a black veil. “It’s never a clear-cut cloud, it’s always a little blurred between white and black, tending more towards grey,” explains the designer.
Tulle, particularly polka-dot flocked tulle, or point d’esprit tulle, took hold of a plunging back jacket, a large petticoat, a ball skirt, a draped shawl top and a sheath, in a tumult of gathers and frothy draped effects. A cape in black organza filaments looked as if it had been shredded. “I thought of Juliette Greco while I was making this collection. There’s an existentialist side to it,” says the designer, justifying the dark palette.
Other creations take a more graphic approach to clouds. For example, a long black bat coat in boiled wool is adorned with flaky clouds embroidered in silver thread held between two layers of tulle, while metal sequins bead down like rain. Elsewhere, a short coat in wool and silk was hand-painted with azure skies and grey clouds by Isabelle Tartière, the couturier’s wife and right-hand woman. The designer then embroidered lines of rain on top.
Finally, a wool pea coat was covered in metallic organza and tulle splashed with silver to create a milky way effect. Franck Sorbier added a final cloudy touch by applying bits of silk metal organza, which he draped to give relief. Using the same technique, he sewed scrolls and arabesques of draped blue tulle onto a flared turquoise skirt, while ruffling the top in the same material and colour to create a bolero in the form of a mini puffer coat.
“I wanted to indulge in something more unctuous and supple this season. The cloud is often linked to an idea of innocence, childhood and escape. The idea of a cocoon, which we need at the moment,” says the designer. “In fact, I invite people to look up at the sky more often and let themselves be contemplative. In a way, it’s a call to dream,” he says.
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