“Being Parisian means being quite romantic and happy because we have the chance to live in this city,” said Alexandre Mattiussi 100 percent correctly after this collection. “And maybe the French lover thing again: This guy that you want to hang out with during the mornings because he is still waking up.” At that, an unreadable exhalation of laughter fluted forth from a Paris-based expat reporter in the backstage huddle. Totally unambiguous is the fact that Mattiussi’s clothes are very seductive. What he does looks simple, perhaps, but for anyone who gets excited by a beautifully shaped mesh paneled white sneaker under a gray light wool pant with a just-so break worn slightly too large at the waist to allow the belt to cinch the pant and emphasize the wearer’s litheness, then this is the label to investigate.
Silk-sheen Dijon mustard outerwear cut across soft, yet hefty track pants and half-zip pullovers in dark, rich green-blue and brown. A hooded shirt of green Hawaiian-style florals on a blue background billowed winningly at the small of the back. A ’70s sports jacket–ish check was cut into a striking women-worn suit, and an overcoat was lovely but became remarkable because Mattiussi had teamed it with . . . narrow-cut jeans.
Was Paris’s vanguard standard bearer for broader pleated pants that look so damned cool making a shockingly volte-face? Mattiussi replied: “We want to be democratic . . . I feel like I kind of repeat myself every time, but it is just about the way we like to dress.” Repetition—flecked with variation—is nothing to sniff at when its recipe has such potency.
