On each white table set up for buyers in Rabih Kayrouz’s Left Bank showroom there was a tic-tac-toe grid created from thin grosgrain ribbon. The pieces were marble disc buttons in alternating tones that appeared on coats in Kayrouz’s Pre-Fall collection. Place an order; play a round; note the joie de vivre behind the design. And this is important, mainly because Kayrouz’s clothes communicate subdued elegance and soigné ease before they betray a sense of whimsy. But really, spontaneous-seeming gestures were omnipresent, from the dress spread open and bridged by grosgrain to irregularly tiered ruffles garnishing shirt plackets, sleeves, and necklines. The most impressive testament to Kayrouz’s pursuit of minimized construction was a coat unsewn at its sides yet enclosed thanks to overlaying panels. In heathered gray cashmere wool felt, it seemed like the wearable equivalent of Pierre Paulin’s iconic Orange Slice chair. Other pieces recalled and reinterpreted Kayrouz’s go-to caftan, tunic, and tented shapes, only this time in micro-floral, multihued brocade or the palest peony silk velvet, its exposed threads clipped like petals.
Kayrouz’s Pre-Fall collection has existed for some years; he’s just never been one to court attention. Yet his deceptively simple flat-front pocket dress and simplified Bar-style jacket, as two examples, deserve to be seen (if not worn). They offered an even greater appreciation of his steadiness and finesse. The designer, meanwhile, offered a tin of sesame cookies from his family’s bakery in Beirut.
