Reel back to the Spring 2016 Lanvin show for a minute. At the end of what turned out to be Alber Elbaz’s swan song collection, the one before he was dismissed, he put in a finale that was smothered in hand-drawn Lanvin logos and dresses printed with pictures of shoes, bags, and perfume bottles. His play on branded merch seemed puzzlingly out of character at the time, but in retrospect, was it actually his prophetic comment on where he saw the values of the fashion industry heading? Two years down the line, and two designers later, there were prominent Lanvin-logo prints and Lanvin-logo bags on the runway again. This time, they were by Olivier Lapidus, who has taken the place of Bouchra Jarrar, the young designer who closed her own label to join the company but ended up being given the sum total of two runway shows in which to prove herself before parting ways.
The rapid hiring and firing of designers is not unique to Lanvin, of course. It’s often the way of the business world that creative people are seen as secondary to the importance of brands. Yet, casting our minds back even further, it was Elbaz and his creativity that brought the Lanvin brand alive. In the review of his first show, in March 2002, cached on Vogue Runway, mention was made of the fact that his collection made reference to “Lanvin’s identity as a successful seller of men’s suits.” It didn’t mention anything other than that about the label’s history.
As a matter of fact, Lanvin is still a successful seller of men’s suits—it has the brilliant designer Lucas Ossendrijver in that department. But what about the current meaning and direction of the women’s side? Is Lapidus the man who can bring his own sense of soul to the brand? It’s far too early to judge that. Having only been hired in August, with a few weeks to prepare a collection for the world’s press, he chose an old-school raised runway as the stage for his black draped dresses and pantsuits. It was enough to perhaps fit somewhere within the “minimalist” revival of the season.
And then, there were the logo prints. We’re in a logo-revival moment, it’s true. Plenty of other designers have been riffing affectionately off their shared nostalgia for the logomania craze of the early aughts. Lanvin’s weren’t ironic. Lapidus will need time, and to dig deeper than this to bring some emotion back to the brand.
