Two of the biggest shows on the Paris Fashion Week schedule took place this afternoon (September 29), and strangely, there were clear crossovers between them. Both Dior and Margiela’s collections were inspired by contrasting ‘flou’ and ‘tailleur’ techniques. In couture, flou focuses on soft, free-flowing silhouettes, whereas tailleur uses rigid, structured tailoring, created with heavier materials. At Dior, Jonathan Anderson turned typically tailleur-made garments (jackets, shirts and trousers) into floating designs that would usually be made by Le Flou – the department of an atelier where dresses are made. 

Later this afternoon, Margiela’s SS27 show was titled HARD and SOFT, in direct reference to the juxtaposing design techniques. Both Margiela and Dior referred to ‘flou’ in their show notes, which wasn’t the only unexpected crossover this week. The Margiela show took place at L’Élysée Montmartre, where inside, guests discovered rooms decorated with walls of decaying flowers.

According to the release, this was Margiela’s tribute to Raf Simons’ 2012 Dior couture debut set design – the brand even used the same florist, Mark Colle. Like Simons, Margiela and its creative director Glenn Martens are Belgian, and supposedly, this set design was a tribute to their fellow compatriot. Unlike Simons’ set however, the distinct difference was that the flowers were no longer full of life; they were hanging off the walls, wilted and thirsty, as if the Dior flowers had been left to rot all these years.

“The set concept follows our on-going founding interest in replication and our deep love of fashion,” read the show notes. The flower theme continued into the clothes, now immortalised as vibrant, blossoming prints – some leaning towards 60s psychedelia. Even the invite contained flowers: a small silver lapel pin holding three peonies. 

Each look’s construction played with elements of hard and soft. The most literal example was one sweeping white gown, decorated with crushed metal cans and silverware, like a makeshift suit of armour. Elsewhere, softly draped dresses seemed to burst open at the chest, revealing a corset in a contrasting structured fabric. Every look seemed like it had glitched on the way out – like something was off (deliberately), whether that was highlighter orange trainers, a random full beat of drag-style makeup or coat linings that became the dress. Interestingly, emerging London designer Petra Fagerström did the same thing at her show last week. 

If this show contemplated HARD and SOFT, then perhaps for Martens, Dior’s 2012 collection is the epitome of softness in fashion. And when remixed with a ‘tailleur’ edge, you get Margiela. Either that, or he’s a huge fan of Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft.