Alexis Mabille sees bow ties where the rest of us see, well, tied sleeves. The designer titled his Fall collection Coup de Vent, which he translated into English as "breezy." He explained before the show that he wanted to convey movement and effortless cool because that's how he sees women dressing today. But instead of forsaking his characteristic flair, Mabille flouted the notion of basic by ornamenting sweatshirts with Swarovski crystals and proposing sweatpants entirely in tulle with sparkly motifs around the knees. He singled out a "jogging-smoking" silk satin ensemble as his pièce de résistance: Purists might take umbrage at combining a hoodie with tuxedo striping in one look, but Mabille is fearless when it comes to remixing, which helps explain why some outcomes ended up stronger than others. Those extraneous shirtsleeves, for example, seemed like affectations (people never tie a white poplin shirt around their waists just cuz), and handkerchief hemlines were challenging. Mabille found a groove using tartans on minidresses and blouses, which he then paired with taffeta skirts. The designer's masculine-feminine fixation played out on a gray flannel fluted redingote and again with an inky blue evening suit for the show's final look. Unlike the sneaker ubiquity everywhere else, he stuck to stiletto booties. What they lacked in easy-breezy, they made up for in attitude. And Mabille will always lean toward the latter.
