It took 7,500 hours of embroidery, or about 310 days of continuous work by a clothier, to stitch together 70,000 crystals, 80,000 silver leaves and 200,000 sequins by hand to complete the pure white veil bridal gown that was the finale of Balenciaga's hautol show this season.

It was just one of many highlights on the third day of the season's couture week, which, from Balenciaga and Viktor & Rolf to guest designer Jean Paul Gaultier with Olivier Rousteing, seems to be reserved for brands that break through and are keen to experiment. The intention is to tell everyone who cares about the future of couture that the top of the fashion pyramid is not only a heavy dress as big as "Carmen", but is always open to innovation and creativity, so anything is possible.

In 1958, Cristobal Balenciaga, in the pursuit of the ultimate profile of haute couture, and Abraham, a fabric manufacturer from Zurich, Switzerland, developed a new fabric known as gazar, which is easy to shape but light enough to make the seemingly heavy and stiff satin appear as if it were free from gravity.

At the just-concluded Autumn/Winter 2022 Haute Couture show, Demna Gvasalia defined Balenciaga's "new gazar" for this era - Japanese limestone based neoprene diving fabric.

The opening pieces are the result of this unconventional fabric, which is reminiscent of the brand's previous plastic collection on the New York Stock Exchange, but the unparalleled creative environment of Haute couture allowed Demna to delve into the fabric's draping, wrinkle resistance and breathability, with a very wrapped but matte texture adding a touch of calm and somber.

While the body lines are outlined in diving fabrics, the black shaped masks worn by the models are also very promising - developed and produced by the AMG F1 Applied Science division of the Mercedes Benz team, using polyurethane coating technology, like the functional masks of extraterrestrial visitors, and the reflective mirror effect is full of mystery and unknown.

And also like a strange thing in general, there are models carrying the Bang & Olufsen cooperation to launch the Speaker Bag, the whole bag body is polished by a solid piece of aluminum, holding it is equivalent to "own sound".

When the anonymity symbolized by the mask and the inherent sense of presence of the sound appear together in the same shape, the low-key and high-profile opposition coexist, producing a wonderful chemical reaction.

In Balenciaga's 51st couture collection, this seemingly contradictory but interesting collision of elements is everywhere.

The Avant-garde dives were followed by full-length tweed fabrics in full homage to the haute couture tradition, tassel embroidery, and silk tassels cut with raw edges to outline coats, jackets and dresses in a Demna silhouette style.

Several colorful dress dresses in crisp satin, with irregular trains, hemlines and exaggerated structural proportions, all pay homage to the historic collections of design in Balenciaga's fashion house.

In contrast, Demna shaped the T-shirt for modern fashion, adding a new fabric containing aluminum to maintain a crisp silhouette while the wearer moves.

And for the denim customization, Demna also chose to quietly in the suit, with satin lining and silver-plated buttons, the exquisite luxury experience may only be experienced when you actually wear it.

At the end of the show, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman took to the runway to lock in the highlights of this season's haute couture fashion week. This undisguised focus on starlight is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the models anonymized by masks in the opening scene.

Perhaps when the closing of the bridal gown, which took more than 300 days to complete, walked past every brand devotee in the show wearing Balenciaga sunglasses, the guests were still immersed in the opening wetsuits that could not be measured by the established rules of couture.

Demna Gvasalia seems to have been seeking to be an outsider away from the fashion system for many years, not giving interviews, not closing the stage, and even using unexpected new materials on the high-end shows to avoid the inherent discussion of the critics about the fabric and tailoring standards, and it is his seemingly "out of the flow" creation. For haute couture to attract more "outsiders" attention.

Unconventional Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren chose to raise their shoulders last season, but this season they are widening and tightening them.

This collection can indeed be seen as a continuation of last season, the Spring/Summer 2022 couture collection borrows from the 1922 film Nosferatu:a Symphony of Horror, and in many of the looks released this season, we can clearly see that the towering shoulders of six months ago have been opened and expanded. The exaggerated profile is fixed by the metal structure.

"Power Dressing: A Three-Act Fashion Show" As the theme of this couture Show, A Fashion Show in Three Acts not only includes the comparison of styles before and after cross-dressing, but also regards the process of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren cross-dressing models together as a scene, which covers the core narrative.

As we all know, this is not the first time that the two designers have moved backstage to the front, from the "Russian doll" collection in autumn and winter 1999 to the "wearable art" show in autumn and winter 2015, you can see them busy on the stage.

"We like male clothing that doesn't fit, masculinity that doesn't fit, so we change it and make it fit."

Viktor & Rolf explain their creative intentions for this season.

In fact, as the structure changed, it was not only the clothes that "fit", but also a relaxed attitude, and the structure of the clothes that had just been regarded as a constraint and burden became soft and friendly, as they described it: "At first it was very hard and traditional, tightly knit, and then gradually shifted to a softer and more relaxed way."

Viktor & Rolf once defined their role in the creative field as follows: "What we try to convey is a state of reading fashion outside the perspective of fashion. This relationship with fashion is a theme that runs through our work."