If Kym Ellery can make a collection that’s 90% upcycled—as she said of this one—then surely it’s only responsible to recycle an easy gag for its review: This was (another) strong episode of Ellery in Paris. But unlike the TV show that caused so much lockdown hoo-ha (Emily in Paris, duh), Ellery’s look book was set in grittier, less-sanitized pockets of the French capital: “The 11th, the 20th, the 10th, Belleville, Concorde, République…she’s larger than life floating through the city, the real Paris. It’s a window into the life that we experience here, and it’s not as glittery as cliché makes out,” said the designer from her (pretty glittery) showroom.
Ellery in Paris was for sure larger than life, a gamine scaled up in post to Godzilla proportions. The color palette, described as “lemon curd, cashew cream, poached pear, roasted almond, rich ganache, black sesame, and charcoal glazing” with “sprinkles of raw cacao and cinnamon and a trickle of fresh raspberry jam” implied urgent desire for hipster patisserie. She loomed outside the desolate Opéra Bastille in a striking black dress with an embroidered panel on a silk tulle base. She blocked a Seine-side cycle lane in kicky white pants and a black top with contrasting lacing falling from the shoulder and a corset, then measured herself against the Colonne de Juillet in a frothily detailed lemon gown. Lace, bouclé (repurposed and Lurex), and froideur-perfect statement trenches (in vegan leather with lace detailing at the collar) were amongst the monuments of Parisian dressing integrated and remixed into this winning Ellery take on her adopted city’s dress codes. This was sophisticated but subtly anti-conservative “French Girl” dressing, light of touch and rendered through a knowledgeable insider-outsider’s eye.
