Julien David had never done a pre-collection. But in the process of putting together his Fall ’14 menswear collection, he said, "I selected my fabrics and I couldn't resist using a few for women."
From less than this have collections been born. David's pre-collection gave a feminine slant to his men's, with the added advantage that some fabrics, like the densely woven multicolored jacquards, in fact looked more fitting for a miniskirt than a full men's suit, as David had shown them. The acid-treated crinkled cotton separates and netted gingham had the street-easy David trademark but with enough interest to make even the simple shapes pop.
Some of the collection looked as though it might've been borrowed directly from menswear, like the oversize denim jacket David made in collaboration with the Korean-Japanese label Ambush. (It was embroidered with tags and printed on the back with embuscade—French for "ambush.") Its counterpart on the girly-girl end of the spectrum was a series of showpieces in foil-printed tulle, meant to be worn over other items. "I call them 'clothes as accessories,'" David said. The menswear lent fabrics to the women's, but that particular textile (if that's the word for what's essentially a fishing net) doesn't look destined to seep back into the designer's men's collection.
