Adam Lippes recently moved house, relocating from Greenwich Village to Brooklyn Heights. His mind has been on interiors of late—those of the French interior designer Madeleine Castaing and his own, which are informed by the legendary grande dame. Castaing, who created spaces for the likes of Jean Cocteau and Roger Vadim, is remembered for her bravado use of patterns (leopard especially, but flowers, as well), a sense of color both fearless and whimsical, and an eccentric personal glamour epitomized by her pageboy wig.
Everything but the pageboy found its way into Lippes’s new Pre-Fall collection. A bonded waterproof raincoat in cheetah was overscreened with bright spots, and a lush floral pattern Castaing preferred was reproduced as both a print for a silk top-and-skirt set and a 3-D embroidered long dress. The decorator’s beloved cornflower blue silk moiré became a one-shoulder, tiered party dress, while another frock was cut from a subtle green chartreuse, if indeed chartreuse can ever be called subtle.
Not everything was designed for Castaing enthusiasts. There was a shearling-trimmed jean jacket made from strips of soft Japanese denim, a humble black cotton midi dress, and elastic-waist cotton pants utterly of this moment in their athleisurely mien. But Lippes’s point of difference is his decorator’s eye for lush pattern and luxe materials. Take, for instance, a Chantilly lace dress constructed from narrow strips of fabric, each of which were individually dyed in different shades of indigo, or the smock-waisted number made in silk and leopard dévoré hand-painted in soft pastels. Castaing would’ve been in heaven.
