Before we all quit shopping, Isabel Marant's Left Bank boutique was an important stop on the Paris circuit. In fashion speak, she "makes clothes that girls want to wear." Meaning they're not necessarily the kind that get photographed for glossy fashion spreads in magazines, but editors and retailers alike appreciate the streetwise way Marant mixes elegant and casual. Take the first look at the Fall show, a fur coat with cool three-quarter-length sleeves over one of her slouchy T-shirts and baggy silk python-print pants, which were tucked into sexy over-the-knee suede boots.
Marant said the attitude was glam rock meets London bad boys, circa the late fifties and early sixties. That added up to a leopard-print dress and a sweatshirt-gray jumpsuit worn with oversize men's jackets in tweed or herringbone, with big shoulders and sleeves rolled up to the elbows; and a belted little black dress with slashes of white paired with studded ankle boots. Layered in among her sweatshirts and denim jeans and minis were new-looking, softly ruched and gathered long skirts, and drop-waist silk shirtdresses. Apparently, her hard-rocking chicks have a little hippie in them. They're all priced to sell like crazy at the new stores she's scheduled to open in Los Angeles and New York this summer. With the exception of the shiny leggings with zips up the side, which made even the models look wide, sell is indeed what they'll do.
