On Monday, Alessandro Michele debuted two Parton-inspired pieces during his Paris Fashion Week show. The first piece was a sleeveless denim vest with an airbrushed photo of Dolly Parton on the back, and the second was a sweatshirt featured a Warhol-esque print of the singer’s visage.
The tribute to America’s favorite female country singer wasn’t even the most unexpected part of the show. There were also a parrot, a video projection of somewhat terrifying asylum-like scenes, and a soundtrack with screams that led into Birkin’s performance of her 1983 single.
The show’s location of Le Palace, a famous former celebrity spot in the ‘70s, was the perfect backdrop for the glitzy madness. It was rock ‘n’ roll, Disney, utter maximalism, anxious energy, and sequins. As Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times described it, “To try to make order out of disorder, bridge high culture and low culture, demonstrate the beauty in difference and the harmony that can come from culture clash, and so on.”
Michele has managed, yet again, to create fashion’s favorite circus.