At more than half the couture collections so far this week, a tailleur has opened the show. While that’s not exactly headline-making news, it is interesting that designers are finding a receptive audience for made-to-measure tailoring. That was Alexandre Vauthier’s message today. “Couture,” he said, is “aussi pour le jour.”
Vauthier is an accomplished technician, and he pointed out that much of the work in this collection was done by hand. Women in the market for a sharp le smoking could do worse than the one he showed at the top of his show with a ruffle-front white shirt, bow tie, and pink carnation pinned to its exaggerated lapel. His other jackets had a more oversize proportion, cut boxy and with big shoulders in an ’80s vein, which accentuated the attenuated silhouette of his midi skirts and super-brief running-style shorts.
As for flou, Vauthier avoided the grandiose gowns typical of many couture designers. For every strapless pouf, there were slinky draped jersey dresses studded with grids of Swarovski crystals. In the past, that kind of sexy fare was standard issue chez Vauthier, but he prefers a sweeter, more romantic look for the most part now. His palette was black, white, and baby pink, pulled from a hand-painted print of flowers that he used on a pair of dresses: the first a shirtdress with a lampshade skirt and the second a strapless number with a train. The after-dark stars were the shapely yet understated LBDs cinched at the waist with silk ribbons and blooms.
