Continuing on from Part 1 of our Autumn / Winter 2019 fashion coverage, we highlight the hottest haute couture looks from some of the world’s best-loved luxury brands. Check out our favourite outfits from Gucci, Louis Vuitton and more!

Gucci

To say that Gucci’s Autumn / Winter 2019 collection is eccentric is an understatement. The maison’s maverick creative director Alessandro Michele has depicted an utterly chaotic world on the runway with a glorious mishmash of colours, textures and patterns. Many of the pieces have been left deliberately unfinished, with their raw edges jutting out fiercely. The accessories are whimsical as well – a pair of casual Gucci trainers here, a sombre handbag there. But among the accessories, the most unusual and poignant are the masks. With these, Michele explores the interchanging nature of person and persona – transforming them from instruments of deceit to manifestations of our chosen personality.

Hermès

Knickerbockers-style jumpsuits, shorts and black leather jackets, dressage bodysuits, fitted trousers, tailored dresses, double-faced coats – the classic and the contemporary collide in dramatic fashion on the runway, courtesy of Hermès’ latest  line. With severe blacks, muted tans and classic camel shades ruling the colour palette, this is one collection that refuses to be swayed by the fickle winds of change in fashion. Instead designer Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski has put her faith in the inherent comfort that comes with constancy, making it a collection that is well and truly for keeps.

Loewe

Jonathan Anderson, Loewe’s creative director, has pushed the boundary between shapes and fabrics this season with the marque’s Autumn / Winter 2019 collection. So severe chequered overcoats and ribbed knitwear go hand in hand with cut-out dresses and sheer lace skirts with a flair that is at once clever, playful and a tad risqué. Showing his mastery over colours, Anderson has thrown shades of saffron, cerulean and vermillion in sharp relief against the more subdued black, olive, navy, camel and ivory hues. This duality between conservatism and modernity is perhaps best depicted through the hats that the models sported so jauntily. Inspired by Coret millinery, the headgear depicts whimsical borders and paradoxical textures, from post-modern winged skullcaps to whimsical fringe caps.

Louis Vuitton

The rather expansive theme of ‘culture’ is the central motif of Louis Vuitton’s Autumn / Winter 2019 collection. However, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière has narrowed it down by drawing inspiration from Beaubourg, the famous Centre Pompidou library in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, a cultural melting pot that is said to bring together different forms of art and literature under one roof. For Ghesquière, it is a “place where expression is free to be” and it is this very freedom of expression that he explores through a psychedelic mosaic of textures, prints, fabrics, punkish metal embellishments and leather skullcaps in this truly multifaceted collection.

Prada

Prada’s Autumn / Winter 2019 womenswear range is all about romance – the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. Creative director Miuccia Prada unapologetically explores the anatomy of love through a range of post-modern feminine looks – all lace capes, rose embellishments, floral brooches and glittering shoes. Even the most severe of these ensembles – a militaryesque jacket – has been softened a sexy lace skirt. Then there is the hearkening for unlikely love stories, for Gothic romance and noir love, as depicted in a black lace outfit featuring Frankenstein and his Bride.

Salvatore Ferragamo

Shoes serve as the anchor for Salvatore Ferragamo’s latest collection. Perhaps that is not too surprising given that the present creative director of the women’s line, Paul Andrew, headed the footwear division before his current role. His approach towards ready-to-wear couture, then, has been to start with the shoes – “dressing toe to head” as he calls it. So structural heels, Gancini monogram jacquard booties, satin stilettos and pull-on calfskin boots keep the collection grounded, while fringe cashmere blanket coats, soft leather robes and hand-knit textured sweaters confer a sense of discreet luxury.

Valentino

Valentino’s Autumn / Winter 2019 womenswear range has an undeniably dream-like quality to it. As creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli puts it: “I feel that people are looking for emotion and dreams – but not distant dreams.” To channel this into his collection, he has paid generous homage to not one but four contemporary poets: Greta Bellamacina, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Mustafa The Poet and Robert Montgomery. Inspired by their works, Valentino’s ensembles paint a bright, bold canvas in red, yellow, black and white, interspersed with delicate shades of pastel. The patterns and graphic prints – some showing amourous embraces, cut-out-style roses and butterflies – all speak a language of love and hope.

Versace

Can luxury and grunge go hand in hand? While those less au fait with fashion may say ‘no’ to such a concept, Versace’s Autumn / Winter 2019 collection has taken it upon itself to prove them totally, irrevocably wrong. So rich fabrics sporting unfinished hems, black leather jackets thrown over lace dresses, all adorned with the maison’s signature safety pins, rule the runway, revelling in the dichotomy between regal and rock chic. As chief creative officer Donatella Versace explains it: “With this collection, I wanted to show that side of a woman that isn’t afraid to step outside of her comfort zone because she knows that imperfection is the new perfection.”