If you're looking for an antidote to all of the ladylike clothes destined for stores next Spring, Isabel Marant will be your gal. Pretty and sweet aren't her thing; sexy and earthy are more like it. No nipped-waist dresses here. Instead, she said backstage, she was thinking about what a girl traveling around the world for her summer holidays would pack in her ideal suitcase.
Marant's trip kicked off in the U.S. of A. It was spelled out in block letters on the back of her slouchy football jerseys. Then there were the stripey track pants, and the hoodies and tank dresses knit together from shredded old sweatshirts. Nobody does comfort clothes quite like les américains. But Marant's girl is a global traveler, so there were also Rajasthani embroideries on vests and dresses tie-dyed using Indian techniques. Jeans are always an essential part of this designer's story; today they looked like they'd been dip-dyed in bleach, scribble-printed, or stamped with a python pattern that looked like a callback to one of her big hits from a couple of years ago.
Which raises the questions: Is Marant's formula becoming a little formulaic? Or is she just giving us girls what we want? It's too early to say for next Spring, but a quick tally of her Navajo jeans and fringed boots from Fall in the front rows this month suggests the latter for now.
