Seeing some wantable clothes at a show can be like contemplating a swimming pool you can’t swim in: This Lanvin collection neatly combined both experiences. It was presented this morning around Lucien Pollet’s very handsome 1933 piscine, Pailleron, and designer Bruno Sialelli suggested an expansive proposition for both genders that should be well worth dipping into once it drops.
As a drone buzzed here and there for the live-stream, its downthrust rippling the waters below, we again saw from Sialelli a broadly themed collection in which he packed a magpie’s mix of eclectic elements. “It’s a collection about holidays and travel—really my idea of the summer holidays and a utopia of the summer. There are references linked to tourists of the ’70s,” he explained. The little leather sailor collars and nautical flag–patched garments on bags were, of course, seafaring references—but less in your face was the sliced curve back of an attractive azure gazar duffle that billowed from the back full sail ahead. Opening suits in sand and sea colors featured rich green wave reliefs at the leg, and there was a handsome weathered women’s suit in crushed and crispy light canvas teamed with another sailor-collar bib. The look that followed immediately after, a matching navy bomber and pant, was shipshape.
There was that softly applied hippie-trail vibe in weathered-effect high-jacket suiting edged in dangled metal beads (and a tank loaded with them) that added a jaunty jangle, as well as neck-worn trinketry plus a touch of backpacking Down Under in the Blundstone-esque boots and the long parakeet cardie similar to my mother’s Jenny Kee from back in the day. More figurative knitwear included a cardigan and tank top evocative of the famous “black sheep” design so famously beloved by Princess Diana. The tank was worn with an utterly lovely loose combat pant.
Other summery delights included terry all-in-one pareo/jumpsuits; sleeping-bag bags; some gorgeous frayed knit shirt-and-skirt combinations; beer label–adapted Lanvin logo accessories and shirting; and a second outing for Babar prints, which this season were extended from a silk twinset to swimwear and bags. There was also a highly attractive scarf print section, at its end played against pleated khaki suiting, skirts, and shorts. These were just a few fragments from this eventful and dense fantasy travelogue of a collection, full of fun and finely formed clothes fit to make memories for next summer.
