Picking up where his last couture collection left off, Alexis Mabille enlisted an inner circle of friends, actresses, and veteran models to add a personal facet to his predictably glam designs. Unlike the previous season’s tableau vivant, this lineup played out as a défilé through a series of gilded salons, where a stilted rhythm weakened Mabille’s good intentions. Production glitches aside, his diversity of looks corresponded to the diversity of his muses, such that Carmen Kass opened the show in an Old Hollywood white crepe tuxedo dress swelling with ostrich feathers, followed by Audrey Marnay in a coquettish embroidered lace LBD. Compare and contrast the puffed ombré “summer fur” (pleated, frayed organza and feathers) top and slim pants worn by Debra Shaw with Luping Wong’s lingerie-inspired gown in Chantilly lace with jet beading, and you sensed how Mabille might even consider his creations like character studies.
Yet this remained a collection designed by, not designed for. Mabille’s overwhelmingly sheer dresses favor male fetish to female confidence; which is to say, they weren’t likely personal requests. Alternatively, his tailored crepe gowns—Look 7’s classic bustier style or Look 10’s Spencer-inspired jacket top with split sleeves—reassured that he’s not out of touch with a more relevant sensibility.
As for the collection’s title, Timeless Beauties, Mabille’s finishing touches can often feel slightly behind the times—or perhaps the prevailing tastes. But there’s no arguing that the gown with a lattice of crystal embroidery carries the same allure today as it would have 10 years ago—and that a barely there Chantilly lace dress will register as sexy in a decade as it does right now.
