Alexandre Mattiussi is carefully extending his range (this collection featured 15 womenswear looks which, following a successful in-store capsule experiment last season, will be available at wholesale). He is also equally carefully broadening his scope, while staying firmly rooted in the iconography of Paris and the patrimony of French masculine style.
This season Mattiussi tweaked his Parisian prism slightly—sepia-tinted it—by leaning on some of the style iconography of mid-20th century’s Paris cultural demimonde: an aspirationally Godard-ish vision cast by 21st-century descendants of Deneuve and Belmondo. Mattiussi called the collection “an homage to the bourgeoisie” and said he imagined his man and woman as the well-heeled scions of old Parisian money who were going for tea with their grandmothers but planned big nights ahead.
Volumized tailoring, especially above the waist, saved this from being too literal a costume drama. Conversely, the hats were a slightly silly distraction from some very good clothes. The graphic definition of his twisted wool houndstooth suiting, his Ladurée-bright, super-sugary topcoats in pink or pistachio, and a pair of powerfully lush green corduroys beneath a pretty much perfect duffle coat were all satisfying reboots of Old School Parisian menswear.
There was a touch of the twisted, unusual for AMI but welcome, in his off-berry leather trench, shirt, and pant for women: Belle de Jour, the remake. Mattiussi’s own grandmother—Josianne, whom he said makes the best chocolate milk—should be proud.
