A couple of years ago Christelle Kocher took her Pre-Fall Koché collection to New York, staging a show in the city’s famous Strand bookstore. Today, the winner of this year’s ANDAM Prize one-upped herself. She’s the first designer ever to be offered the Centre Pompidou’s Bibliothèque as a venue. In a backstage interview Kocher recalled studying in the museum’s library while at university. She has always chosen venues and made casting decisions (once uncommon, but increasingly influential) that represent the “real Paris.” That hasn’t changed, but with the ANDAM spotlight on her, Kocher made an effort to sharpen her design message—to say, “I belong in the Paris big time.”
Kocher’s high-low aesthetic, which mixes couture detailing with streetwear, has kept her somewhat sidelined from those proverbial big leagues. But as fashion changes and customers start turning against the impersonal high production values of giant corporations in favor of labels with a noticeable human touch, attention is shifting in her direction. In front of her largest crowd yet, those sharpening efforts came through from look one, a neatly tailored trench elaborately embroidered with crystals and wooden beads, and culminated near the finale with a spangly cocktail number, the base of which was soccer jerseys cut into embellished florets linked together by strands of tiny beads.
Sustainability has been part of Kocher’s mission from the start. In addition to that knockout party dress, a middle section of patchwork polo dresses and tracksuits was made from upcycled materials (that’s another thing she was early on). But she spent most of her efforts this season on polishing her fancier pieces. There were several dresses constructed from squares of fabric à la Madeleine Vionnet, only Vionnet’s were never made with humble cotton. Most impressive were Kocher’s bias-cut numbers, from a shirtdress whose button placket twisted gracefully across the front to a pair of slip dresses with voluminous skirts that looked especially graceful in movement. She’ll be Spring’s go-to designer for a statement hat, too.
In the end, the magnificence of the Pompidou space and its narrow sight lines worked a bit to Kocher’s disadvantage. Her embroideries and patchworks reward extended inspection. Still, as the models returned for the finale, each one carrying a different book, it was satisfying to see Kocher getting the attention she merits.
