It’s only been six months since Paula Canovas del Vas packed up her things and moved to Paris, but her cheerful little 19th-century studio is filled to the brim with neatly labeled boxes packed with colorful leftovers. A pocket door serves as a backdrop for photo shoots. Just days before this presentation, the racks were full of colorful looks, composed mainly of deadstock found here and there. The designer’s signature shoes — with the double-tipped, upturned toes — were lined up on the cutting table.
Paris is a gift for young creatives, and Canovas del Vas decided to create a collection that is ‘like wrapping yourself like a present’, in the style of Christo. Upstairs at the Instituto Cervantes, a dusty blue taffeta dress tied at the back was paired with jeans sourced from deadstock and stitched inside out. “She’s taunting me,” guest Betty Bitschlap, the Danish drag queen, whispered about that look. “I want it all.”
Models dressed in red bodysuits wandered among sculptures by Justine Ponthieux with art direction by Angelique Pilière. Unpacking and putting it on looks like a sweater vest in earthy ombré knit with a striped trim and patterned inserts or jackets cut in trompe l’oeil – part bomber, part basque. Canovas del Vas referred to her love for Paris in picturesque heart shapes, for example as a print on a jersey dress. Bloomers smelled a whiff of flamenco. The designer said she and her studio make a point of wearing pieces around town, especially while cycling, to ensure they hold up. “It’s a long process of studying volume and thinking about what feels good,” she said. Her ideas are gaining ground: the K-pop girl band NewJeans is already visiting and the designer is leaving for China in a few weeks. It will be interesting to see where that leads.
