Vera Wang received the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian honor, in Les Invalides this afternoon. Champagne was served in the shadow of model horses and riders wearing Napoleonic crests. A few Arrondissements away, her new Fall collection was hanging from racks in a sales showroom; she opted out of her usual New York Fashion Week slot, given the timing of the French award, and has said she will be considering alternatives to the traditional runway format going forward. Instead of Napoleon I’s N’s, Wang embroidered V’s. The emperor and his wife Josephine were muses for a collection that combined masculine and feminine elements and served up its pomp and circumstance via heraldic gold embellishments.
A wispy white empire-line gown came with the decorated woolen sleeves of an officer’s jacket attached. In the lookbook, the sleeves extend well past model Mariacarla Boscono’s wrists. For sales, perhaps, Wang could re-create the effect with long fingerless gloves. An outfit that combined a tailored jacket with a frothy dress boasting a feather harness painted gold by Maison Lemarié was a more practical way to get the look Wang was after; there’s versatility in those three pieces. Layering was a big part of her story this season, as it tends to be back in New York City. There’s something idiosyncratic (and more than a touch unlikely) about topping a fox fur with a peacoat. But the oversize shearling that accompanied a slouchy button-down, corset, and cropped pants looked like something you’d see outside the shows.
