F/W 2016 Trends: Haute Couture VS High Jewellery

Last week, I visited the Haute Couture exhibition, The Vulgar. The show, which runs until February 5 at the Barbican, London, offers visitors a chance to explore a wide range of fashion trends varying from the Renaissance style lush dresses to daring and utterly reckless accessories like slippers made of hair.

The curated outfits belong to different couturiers, who were influenced by various trends; it is obvious that these dresses and accessories were created to leave no one indifferent. However, visitors have to decide for themselves on how they wish to perceive the striking outfits – are they somewhat vulgar and tasteless, or rather enchanting?

In the same way as in haute couture, in high jewellery too, it is very easy to cross the line between creating something refined and gaudy. To ensure this doesn’t happen, jewellers spend years developing their sense of aesthetic balance; they know well that even one extra detail can ruin everything. I remember during an interview with Cindy Chao – the jeweller who caters to collectors – admitted that she had, over the years, learned to strip her pieces off all unnecessary elements and this helped to make her art even more sophisticated.

Incredible looks created by fashion designers during Autumn/Winter 2016 have not left me indifferent. I wanted to draw a parallel between the striking outfits seen on catwalks and beautiful jewellery associated with them. And here is what came out of it.