Lanvin makes a comeback at designer’s debut show in Paris on WTOP| PARIS (AP) — After several years in the creative wilderness, Lanvin is back on form. There was a palpable sense of relief — as well as praise — as noisy applause erupted at the end of the French couture house’s catwalk show Wednesday…
PARIS (AP) — After several years in the creative wilderness, Lanvin has made a comeback.
There was a palpable sense of relief — as well as praise — as noisy applause erupted at the end of the French couture house’s catwalk show Wednesday, a debut from Bruno Sialelli, Lanvin’s fourth designer in four years.
Some highlights from the fall and winter ready-to-wear shows at Paris Fashion Week:
LANVIN IS BACK
The collection was shown inside the haunting stone interiors of Paris’ National Museum of the Middle Ages amid statues of largely-faded and forgotten French kings.
Lanvin, a French national treasure and the world’s oldest continually running couture house, has itself been fading since the departure of lauded couturier Alber Elbaz in 2015 after 14 years at the helm and a string of disappointing designers.
That ended resoundingly Wednesday as Sialelli took the brand in a strong new direction — falling short of a triumph — with a playful, arty and accomplished collection of men’s and women’s designs called “Mystic Pilgrims.”
Layering was used whimsically. Fluid medieval fairytale princess silhouettes featured amid uber-small waists, deconstructed ponchos in Saville Row-style check, and tartan print used as a contrasting bodice on ethnic silk dresses.
Colors were used with mastery — in a melting pot of Renaissance hues that spanned from the house’s signature blue into what the brand called “powdery shades of avocado, absinthe, banana and bergamot warmed by mahogany, navy, tomato and a blaze of ultraviolet.”
Some had raised doubts about Sialelli when he was poached in January from Loewe, given that he was relatively unknown and only 31 years old.
