Catering for women with different roles in their lives – and not just for the actress, the Amazon and the femme fatale – must have been the constant thought Alber Elbaz had in mind while working on Lanvin’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection.
Elbaz’s designs seemed based on contrasting ideas of fluidity and rigidity.
A strong sense of movement was perfectly embodied by elegant ample and swirling chiffon skirts matched with tight bodysuits and by sporty nylon raincoats, while rigorous coat dresses and leggings - a perfect and versatile uniform - were paired with flat sandals that gave dynamism and functionality to the entire collection.
The leather bracelets that kept sandals firmly anchored to the ankles or the leather harnesses linking the waist and the neck and incorporating also large insect-shaped jewellery restrained some of the fluidity of the different designs.
Pleats contrasted with gladiator skirts, soft organza with rigid neoprene and nude and neutral shades with artificial colours such as lemon yellow and pink.
The dichotomy at the bottom of the collection was summarised also by the half-pleated, half rigid bi-coloured dresses with no embellishments. Metallic elements appeared towards the end of the collection applied onto origami dresses or incorporated into oversized necklaces that called to mind Lanvin’s recent collections.
The show closed with a return to soft silhouettes with a group of black models in chic ensembles in dark shades that evoked the glamorous moods of some of the best collections by Yves Saint Laurent.
Rodolfo Paglialunga naturally opted for a soft approach at Vionnet, creating knotted and draped motifs on the fabric, though there is still a lot of work to do to return the French fashion house to the technical knowledge of its founder and the perfection of her asymmetrical cuts.
Brazilian designer Pedro Lourenço couldn’t be further away from these soft and fluid silhouettes: moving from his previous architectural designs, he created sharp geometrical forms using leather and keeping then together via thin nude tulle.
Yet, this time, rather than calling to mind specific architects, buildings or architectural techniques, Lourenço seemed to reference in his designs André Courrèges or Pierre Cardin’s clean and futuristic lines.
Though the collection mainly revolved around white, a colour favoured by many designers during the 60s when creations inspired by the space age were popular (an inspiration echoed also in the little padded raised squares included in some of Lourenço's dresses that seemed to be references to astronaut uniforms in sci-fi films), there were also splashes of solid colours such as turquoise, green, red and yellow appearing in some of the details of the trapeze-shaped dresses.
At times the collection looked a bit repetitive, but it also showed Lourenço knows how to use his materials and how to cut them, two rare things nowadays, especially with many young designers.
Richard Nicoll at Cerruti mastered the company’s heritage and the female form focusing on structure and fluidity and creating a sort of balance between them.
Cerruti’s collection included soft coats matched with jumpsuits or sheer trousers in cinnamon brown and liquid one-shoulder draped dresses.
The more relaxed silhouettes were balanced with more structured and tight fitting numbers with herringbone pattern inserts and cut out motifs.
But if Nicoll found an interesting way to reinvent Cerruti’s heritage, the team at Maison Martin Margiela stumbled and fell in all the traps fashion designers usually find on their ways while experimenting with rigid and soft silhouettes, ending up looking awkwardly stuck in the past for what regarded the presentation and the collection as well.
The basic idea for the maison's collection was trying to mix the male and female wardrobe together (well, that's what Margiela did when the fashion house was started...).
Indeed, the opening blue men's shirt with flat extra fabric on the sleeves was supposed to be an introduction to this theme.
Unfortunately, it soon turned into the main feature of the entire collection, transposed also onto jackets and coats.
The impression of seeing something hailing from a not so distant past was reinforced by the trousers held out in front of the models and by an unreasonable high number of shirts, jackets and dresses stretched over a rectangular board in front of the models that gave them the look of sandwich-board girls.
It looked rather disappointing and superficial from such a postmodernist fashion house and it felt as if the best syntheses between the draped and rigid themes that Margiela's mind and heart may have inspired, had been totally missed.
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