Amid all of the guessing the past few months about who will fill the empty creative director roles at Christian Dior and Lanvin, Bouchra Jarrar’s name has rarely, if ever, come up. Perhaps because the scope of her work remains somewhat narrow—she’s focused primarily on tailoring, dipping into eveningwear just occasionally, and she only shows on the runway during couture—she’s not as well known as she might be. Jarrar deserves more attention than she gets, because what she does she does exceedingly well, and she should certainly be considered for Paris’s top design jobs.
You won’t see a more finely cut pair of pants this week than her navy gabardine tuxedo trousers with black satin stripes down the side piped in yellow. Slung from the hips, they flared elegantly to the floor above sturdy men’s shoes—not an easy proposition without an assist from a pair of high heels. Sailor uniforms were a starting point for the designer this season, and her Sergeant Pepper’s coat with its brocade lapels and galloon trim was best in class, too. Elsewhere, a tailored coat with badger trim persuasively mixed the raw and refined, as did an ivory redingote smothered with feathers, a nice elaboration on previous seasons’ feather harness vests. She tempered all the menswear with delicate white Chantilly lace whipped up into a Victorian blouse, a mid-length dress, and a frothy jabot.
As for eveningwear, Jarrar only dabbled in it here, and that’s too bad, especially with awards season upon us. But what she did show was typically soigné. A backless slip dress cut from a luminous ivory panne silk was actually two pieces—how’s that for getting your couture money’s worth? She used the same material for a longer, more languid slip dress. It was gorgeous, but equally matched by the houndstooth coat woven with mohair she tossed over it.
