Only when prodded did Alexandre Vauthier reveal that Beyoncé had given him the black and pink "Surfboard" sweatshirt he was wearing. Then he couldn't immediately remember who wore one of his couture dresses to the Grammys (it was Rihanna). For his ready-to-wear collection, he wanted only one model to be photographed in his fourteen key looks: Hana Jirickova. All of which confirms that glamorous women populate Vauthier's world, and you can see how their glamorous lives influence his designs. Often, he recasts the themes and technical details from couture, such as the animal-print shirtdress woven with gold lamé and the braided leather bustier (for some, it's dress-length). Basic black leather jeans and silky T-shirts seemed, at least in part, to function as necessary entry points for retailers. And the designer's signatures—a slim bar of gold hardware running up the cuff of a white poplin shirt, and a seam that traces down the spine of a black roll-neck sweater—effectively get you wanting pieces you already have in multiples. This is not a manipulative move; rather, Vauthier is convinced that he can do them better. And when you try on his impeccably tailored smoking or compare the fox-trimmed ski jacket to what's out there, you just might agree that he has a point.
