Faith Connexion has been a regular stop on the Paris Fashion Week rounds for two years, but always in the Eighth Arrondissement hôtel particulier where the brand’s atelier and showroom are housed. As it happens, it’s the same hôtel particulier where Kim Kardashian was robbed of millions of dollars in jewels last season. The private hotel and the label have a high-flying VIP clientele in common—the Kim and Kanyes of the world, and Justin Biebers. Today, at Faith’s first-ever runway show, Alicia Keys made a low-key appearance.
Otherwise, though, there was nothing low-key about this show—not the early Michael Jackson tunes that played beforehand; not the street-casted crew of young men and women who modeled; and certainly not the clothes which, in signature FC fashion, mixed the street and the couture salon with irresistible irreverence. Was the bejeweled cross on a net top a nod to Christian Lacroix, and Anna Wintour’s first Vogue cover? That’s what this editor saw, but there were nearly three dozen outfits of many colors and layers here, each one of them declaring allegiances of one sort or another. London is my Hometown read a hoodie; long muffler scarves spelled out Los Angeles in block letters; and T-shirts were stenciled with the slogan Protect Earth.
It’s one of Paris’s open secrets that Faith Connexion is led by former Balmain creative director Christophe Decarnin. As big and as fast as FC has grown, the studio has managed to maintain its we-made-this-upstairs vibe, which is undeniably part of its appeal. Wearing the label’s spray-painted army jackets, as many in the crowd did today, announces membership in the Faith Connexion tribe. Bleached oversize denim vests stood in for those cargo jackets on the runway. Other prizes for the Faithful will include the unraveling grandpa cardigans embroidered with clusters of stones, and gold sequin track pants with hubcap nudes decorating the side stripes. The female models got the short end of the stick when it came to footwear; their spiked platform boots didn’t have the cool factor of the dudes’ whitewashed Chuck Taylors and cowboy boots. But bad shoes aside, this was an engaging romp from one of Paris’s nonconglomerate success stories. Good timing: The company is set to open a New York store before the next round of shows.
