Until last June, when Cédric Charlier presented his Spring women’s collection in New York during the Resort season, his name had been a pleasing sight on the Paris ready-to-wear calendar. And today here he was in Milan, making his men’s debut with a show that also featured his full women’s Fall ’17 collection (to be clear, not Pre-Fall, which has become de rigueur). Let’s give him credit for being such a mover and shaker-upper. Rather than adhere to what he sensed had become an untenable fashion cycle, Charlier figured out how to troubleshoot the issue, achieving personal benchmarks in the process. As he indicated before the show, “I wanted to continue to have pleasure when I design. It’s not about the work; it’s about the time in between—this makes all the difference.”
And it was evident already that this approach suits him. With roughly two women’s looks for every glimpse of the Charlier guy, the lineup dynamically calibrated the overlap of sportswear and tailoring. The chromatic geometries projecting off printed velvet and paneled leather alike could be traced back to Charlier’s awe of Les Sportifs, a painting completed in the early 1930s by Kazimir Malevich that depicts a group of abstracted figures in bold color-blocked clothing. Rather than literal versions of these proto-jumpsuits, Charlier used cord stops and zippers to define dresses and outline coats, making sure that these activewear elements appeared refined, not down-market. Even though he distributed some ideas separately—more technical fabrics for men, silver Lurex only for women—this was indisputably one offering. There’s a good chance, for instance, that the intensity of his yellow—whether for fine corduroy trousers, patent boots, or one of the supple new bags—will prove persuasive across both collections.
Even though Malevich is most famous for the painting The Black Square, he also happened to favor yellow. But aside from color preference, what Charlier extracted from the artist and theorist was the importance of composition, which, more than styling, starts from an earlier stage in the creative process. See the shock of blue running from the back neckline of the tobacco leather trench down the front, or the contrasting pastel panels added to a satin men’s bomber. This year marks the brand’s fifth anniversary; here’s hoping Charlier is still exploring these ideas at the next milestone, wherever it unfolds.
