For her third Spring/Summer 2013 Couture collection, Zahia Dehar reinvents her fairy-tale, sensual universe. As a delicate dreamer, she invites us to share her version of a legend she wrote, in which she summons beauty and innocence, the joy
of living, nature transfigured. Her tale of the “Season of Flowers” resembles a graceful interlude where, beneath a frivolous exterior, nostalgia is never far away. Il Etait Une Fois (Once upon a time)
is a story of pretty shepherdesses and ugly witches vying for eternal beauty. Here, butterflies speak to humans, and strange, rare flowers are the source of life.
In Zahia Dehar’s Cabinet des Fées, fortunately, the princes always save the lovely peasant girls, helped a little by the Génies de l’Amour incarnated by exquisite little creatures from heavenly forests. The young ingenues regain their peachy complexion and fall, of course, into the arms of a charming man on a dazzling white horse. Love blossoms…and…let’s pick the rose! This world full of verve and fantasy is sewn into the blond of summer, the gold of wheat grains, the fragrance of lavender.
Naturalist and sensual, the season is dedicated to freedom in the bush, to the disarming abandon of bodies in the hay,
to the grass that tickles. Once again, the mastery of skilled artisans has transformed precious fabric coupons into pastoral scenes worthy of the painter Watteau.
As if by magic, Zahia Dehar conjures up an idyllic but very real summer, resurrected right down to the twigs of golden straw that cling surreptitiously to petticoats and corsets. The shepherdesses of this princely Hameau
are (un)dressed in caracos woven in cool mists, embellished with light embroidery. Garlands of daisies cascade over these ravishing wild women, embroidered one by one on a tulle strap. Playful, they have snatched
feathers from the birds to make themselves a powder-pink adornment.
Sheaves of wheat, patiently hemmed and embroidered grain by grain, roll into the hollows of the scallops. In these vaporously charming scenes, a skilfully woven straw basket provides a breathtaking backdrop for a dress, draped
like a corolla, with swarms of field flowers picked one by one. Elsewhere, like a case, an elytra imprisons the naked skin of a butterfly woman; armfuls of mauve, parma and violet lavender are transformed into the ravishing apron of
. Nor is it unusual for a voluptuous rose petal, white edged with purple, to encase the body of a nymph. And then, abracadabra, a shower of rosebuds picked this morning falls on a short crinoline. Drenched in
a multicolored palette, this precursor to the dawn symbolizes the passage of a summer as sweet as it is tender…
Flower season
20 models for 20 fairytale heroines, plus the finale worn by Zahia Dehar, express the freshness and magic of an ephemeral summer. The collection is built around material effects, construction feats and hundreds of hours of embroidery. All sublimated by a play of dyes whose delicate variations create trompe l’oeil effects…
Materials
Sewn and embroidered raffia simulates straw, trapping sprigs of grass and flowers. Sisal and raffia are used to represent wheat grains and ears of corn. Real butterflies and feathers complete the adornments…
Fabrics
Cotton quilts with rose motifs, but also embroidered with daisies and suns. English embroidered cottons, cotton natté, canvas, gingham fabric, linen. Matte silk gazars, charmeuse, muslin printed with floral motifs, cross-stitched or embroidered
, organdy and organza (Note: some fabrics that have fallen into disuse were made exclusively for the Zahia fashion house).
Colors
Roses and whites, parms, beiges and whites, false whites and immaculate whites, blue greys and plays on transparency.
Artistic prowess
White Lavateres in crepe organza, apple blossoms. The flowers of the field have been folded in colored organza on the origami principle. Daisies come in three sizes: embroidered, their
leather pistil sewn onto organza. The field flower seedlings are designed to float freely on the fabric. All flowers are articulated and mounted by hand. Four varieties of lavender have been handmade from raffia, mixed
with embroidered dyed cotton thread. Pistils are sometimes made of starch and organza. Wheats are made from cotton thread and balls of embroidered thread.
Each grain is articulated, including those embroidered flat on raffia. Sisal, rabane and raffia are woven and braided. The crinoline-style model is made up of trumpet-rolled rosebuds that required over 18 meters of fabric…
News
Officially launched in January 2012, the Zahia couture house has acquired a prestigious Parisian address (400m2), complete with adjoining model-making workshop. The pink and pearl-gray décor of the salons reflects the elegance and luxury of the young label’s creations. The elegant, ultra-feminine boudoir was entirely imagined by the designer, who designed the long, cloud-shaped carpets, the sofas draped in wrapped silk, and her signature stenciled bow and heart (3 rue François 1er, 75008 Paris).
At the same time, the brand developed its graphic and visual charter, as well as the emblematic “Zahia” signs: the identifying “gusset” knot that appears on every piece of clothing, and the pink signature highlighted by its characteristic curve.
Créative. From September 2013, the first ready-to-wear collection, each piece of which is an integral part of Zahia’s Autumn/Winter 2012-13 Couture collection, will be distributed in France and abroad.
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