Formerly Jourden, Anaïs Mak’s label now comes with her first name in front of her middle—so it’s formally called Anaïs Jourden. The longer name went with her first proper runway show.
The notes touted ladies who lunch mixed with fetishism, but way too many real-world-unwearable-breast-exposing looks lacked the poise or restraint of either. Shame. One white-cuffed black dress with a ruched skirt and a lovely top-of-right-shoulder neckline was too fine a garment to be obliged to look away from.
Much more successful were versions in silver fil coupé or black cotton of the same turtle-ruffle-neck mid-calf dress with six tiers of smocking on the body and arm. Down jackets looked lushly unconventional, cut both long and short and clad in a black, blue, or pink crushed velvet that also worked well on a flared-pant pajama suit and a long pink dress with cotton candy sleeves that came even more comprehensively smocked—Le Smocking? The same shaggy synthetic fringing featured on the hems of cotton off-the-shoulder dresses or skirts teamed with pussy-bow blouses: off-duty Bardot rebooted. Mak clearly savored using some unusually queasy colorways on day-lingerie pieces that created a pleasing contradictory frisson.
