Alexis Mabille adores bow ties. And he's counting on his clients loving them, too, because they were the big idea at his show today. Bow tie prints, bow tie embroideries, bow tie earrings and bracelets, bow ties on the backs of shoes—when we said big, we meant it.
He named the collection Let Me Be Bo-Bow, and he explained backstage that it was designed with the bourgeois bohemian types native to Paris' ninth arrondissement in mind. Young professionals who play as hard as—maybe harder than—they work, and mix day clothes with night and vice versa. Picture rhinestones dolling up a cardigan, and hoodies making appearances under smoking jackets.
It's not a new idea, but it's not a bad one, either. The trouble is those bow ties got in the way. They're his signature—how he got his own start after putting in time at YSL and Dior—so we can't complain about Mabille's affection for them, but we can begrudge him his reliance on them this season.
