It’s been a matter of months since France was hit by a series of terrorist attacks, and the heightened security checks at fashion shows this past week have been a stark reminder that Paris is still smarting from those wounds. Isabel Marant conceived of her latest collection in the wake of that devastation, and found herself mining personal memories of a simpler, more innocent time in the city for inspiration. “It really goes back to when I would sneak out, aged 15, to punk clubs like Le Palace and Les Bains Douches,” said the designer backstage. “With all the sadness that has happened in Paris, it felt like the time was right to party and have fun.”
The ’80s were a good moment for club-kid fashion, and Marant cherry-picked from the best parts of their DIY uniform this season. Mannish oversize coats in tweeds and Prince of Wales check of varying sizes were belted or studded with pins, and the ruffled collars of sweet Victorian-style blouses peeked up from under lapels. Dubbed the queen of the punks, French ’80s icon Edwige Belmore, who passed away last fall, figured large on Marant’s mood board, though the quirky combo of argyle polos, tennis sweaters, and padlock chains spoke directly to counterculture rumblings across the water in the U.K. As it happens, Marant was one of many wide-eyed French teenagers who made the pilgrimage to Malcolm Mclaren’s World’s End store in London, the original epicenter for fashion rebels.
Disruption has been a major talking point this season, from a business standpoint as well as a creative one. It’s perhaps why the anarchic energy of the early ’80s is resonating right now. There was undoubtedly a shift of sorts for Marant, who tends to let her bohemian global-nomadic instincts guide her. Wherever she chooses to roam though, her knack for mixing and matching what cool girls want to wear rarely fails her. The buckled animal-print pixie boots and ballet flats, for example, are destined to be feel-good accessories for stylish city-dwelling women the world over.
