Twenty-twenty is a tough year for a comeback. Bouchra Jarrar returned to the haute couture calendar in January after a four-year absence with a collection that picked up where she left off. She called it “Edition n°1.” Jarrar’s signature is a rigorous yet sensual sartorialism: Her lines are clean; her details are lavish but discreetly applied. And her succinct shows are subtle ripostes to the bombast often seen on other runways. They’ve gained Jarrar a loyal following that appreciates her brand of luxe minimalism.
Sadly, the shutdown made producing the spring collection impossible, but nevertheless she persists. Edition n°2 is smaller and tighter than last season. Reduced to its essence, it’s a collection of 10 looks in black and white. Jarrar was compelled to work without assistants and with upcycled materials that she had on hand before the pandemic began. But she’s quite sanguine about doing more with less. “I don’t want to be part of the system—we produce too much. Quality over quantity; I’m completely focused on timeless silhouettes.”
The coronavirus is impacting the industry in profound ways; the early months of the crisis brought precipitous drops in fashion spending. Naturally, designers are questioning their practices. The most pressing line of inquiry: What will women want when this is all over? Jarrar, for her part, traces fashion’s current problems back to almost 20 years ago. “In 2002, I was at Balenciaga [working under Nicolas Ghesquière] and I remember when they asked us to do more, to make another collection. I saw the change in fashion,” she says.
Her current business model seems well adapted for our time. Whether or not we have reduced circumstances of our own, this moment has given many of us a newfound appreciation for the value of handwork, for the importance of traceability. There’s an intimacy to Jarrar’s process that translates to her customers. It comes across in the sumptuous Lesage embroidery on a bustier worn with tailored trousers, and again on the sequined revers of a smoking. “Focusing on the creative process I forgot about the horrendous situation we’re all in,” she said. Wearing Jarrar’s pieces just might produce a similarly salutary effect.
