SPHERE Paris Fashion Week® Showroom: A Laboratory of Expressions

The selection includes Lucille Thievre, Maîtrepierre, Paolina Russo and Sevali among others. With Charles de Vilmorin, print has become a neo-expressionist hand-drawn signature totem. With Florentina Leitner, the call to dream is sublimated by a palette of eco-friendly flowers. The title “2 cool for school” heralds this winter recreation, inspired by the DANDADAN series, a manga written and illustrated by Yukinobu Tatsu. To believe in ghosts or extraterrestrials: that is the question... 

“An imaginary garden” is how Lora Sonney, a finalist at the Hyères Festival in 2022 and winner of the Prix AMI X IFM 2023, defines her territory of inspiration. “My creations come from my childhood in the Jura region, surrounded by pine forests, lakes, ponds and, of course, the garden!” SPHERE is more than ever a meeting point for imagination and technique: “I'm developing a complete wardrobe of colourful, optimistic accessories and clothing, combining my very utilitarian inspirations with my obsession for materials. It's like a second skin: I explore the idea of camouflaging, protecting, making waterproof... or, the opposite, diverting these functions,” she explains. 

Even the extreme cold is a pretext for playful challenges. Whereas Sonney imagined a mohair trench coat that was “as light as a cloud,” Victor Weinsanto, at SPHERE for the second time, created a wardrobe based on his previous show, called “Les Givrées” (the word refers to ‘frosted’). “During the show, I like to stage the narrative” he says. In the showroom, the theme fades away, offering a more sedate view of the brand. Hence this range of brushed imitation leather that evokes frost, and quilted pieces, “with quilting to give the idea of a duvet.”

For the first time, SPHERE is showcasing the work of Vautrait, an exceptional talent who has had a very promising start, and whose mastery of cutting, draping and tailoring opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Last September, the brand was included in the Official Calendar of Paris Fashion Week, around the same time it was a semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize. Jonathan Carmel, the designer, has a timely perspective. “Fashion is at odds with technology or science. It is like an agent carrying a secret in a suitcase, a secret to he cannot access,” he says. Fashion and know-how as an alternative to AI? No doubt. “When I created this collection, I realised that there was no end. Maybe that's why one collection always follows another – there’s never a finish line, never,” he adds. 

The narrative is back in fashion, boosted by “memory of the future,” the theme chosen by Marco Rambaldi: “Sometimes you crochet, you skip a stitch, you have to undo everything, and you feel like you're hearing your grandmother’s laughter. Sometimes you don’t really like the dress, but you remember who you bought it with, and when you wear it, you smile at the mirror. Sometimes it seems like no one understands how you feel, except for that one person whose number you can recite by heart. And sometimes you cry alone in the car, smiling, while the radio plays the first song you ever sang together. This FW25 collection is dedicated to you.”