Spring-Summer 2023 shows: When scenography becomes a major art

This year the designers have pulled out all the stops. No half measures, no half measures. The set designs for the Men’s Spring-Summer 2023 shows showed this clearly. They are no longer an additional touch to sublimate a collection of clothes but the very continuity of it.

Jacquemus, Dior, Prada… all in their own way have exercised this new total art of the catwalk. Multiplying ingenuity via grandiose locations, symbolic objects and ultra-polished aesthetics. Let’s take a look at these new era stagings.

Dior

Romantic flowerbeds, climbing leaves on the walls of a half-timbered house and the sea as far as the eye can see in the background... This bucolic and enchanting setting staged by the artistic director, Kim Jones, was the backdrop for the Dior Homme Spring 2023 fashion show. A flourishing setting that took its roots in the gardens of Val-de-Grâce in Paris. Chosen to echo the Normandy countryside where Christian Dior was born, but also the rural landscapes of England. That of the painter Duncan Grant, whom Christian Dior loved so much. A double tribute and a poetic success for the centenary brand.

Dior, Summer 2023, menswear, pret a porter

Versace

A showcase for the success of the Versace Empire and an allegory of grandiose luxury, Gianni Versace's Via Gesù house is a symbol in itself. This is undoubtedly why his sister, Donatella, now at the helm of the brand as head of Medusa, chose this location for the set design of her spring-summer 2023 show. A setting that perfectly echoes the history and values of the house. Those of modernity translated by the neon green and mirrored colours, of excessiveness by its large columns and of the importance given to symbols and the quest for Beauty by the installation of male busts inspired by Ancient Greece.

Louis Vuitton

A focus on play and the passage from childhood to adulthood! This was the theme that Louis Vuitton aimed for in the set design of its Men's P/E 23 show. An atmosphere made of joyful primary colours, XXL toys, like the big red balloons strewn on the floor of the Louvre courtyard, and a flash yellow catwalk resembling a life-size version of an electric car circuit. The setting was accompanied by music from the famous brass band The Marching 100, who had created an exclusive sound arrangement for the parade.

Prada

Born from the collaboration between Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada, the P/E 23 Men's fashion show left its spectators with notes of freshness and lightness. And for good reason, the artistic directors decided to honour the famous gingham fabric in their staging. Sparsely placed on immaculate white walls, it took the form of wallpaper or curtains playing in echo with the pieces of clothing of the show. An ode to joyful and efficient simplicity in a minimalist version.

Jacquemus

Once again, Simon Porte Jacquemus has put his signature on the fashion world. As always, the talented designer sought inspiration in his native region, the south of France. Here, in the pristine salt mountains of Salin-de-Giraud, his wedding-themed P/E 2023 show took place. A completely natural scenography, without any artefacts and against a backdrop of Klein blue sky, which served as a symbolic intermediary for the designer to announce his own engagement!