Is there a more apt symbol for this time than the phoenix? Lockdown is purgatory, but phoenixlike we’ll rise again. That’s the hope, at least. Christelle Kocher used the mythic bird as a visual metaphor for her new collection. In her video her models morph into each other; one after the next they’re reborn via special effects. In the collection itself wing motifs are cut out of sweatshirts or flocked on jeans.
Feathers are Kocher’s metier at Lemarié, the plumassier to Chanel, so the phoenix feels like a particularly personal choice. She expressed a deep sense of pride for a short cape made of goose and rooster feathers flocked with a geometric Art Deco–like motif. “It’s a completely new technique,” she said, “something I’ve never been able to achieve before.”
That cape was something of an outlier in this collection though. The more flamboyant, couturish aspects of past Koché outings were replaced here by a grittier, street-ier sensibility. The other notable feather look featured sprays of glossy black plumes sprouting from the shoulders of a crystal-studded mesh concert tee. Kocher said that this is “the beginning of a new cycle, one focused on clothes very real and easy to wear.” That instinct is just as correct as her phoenix symbolism. It yielded a lineup heavy on denim, tracksuits, and athleticwear, including snap-away pants and high-cut leotards, and stretchy velvet dresses, much of it decorated with the feathers-from-flames motif. What you missed was some of Kocher’s characteristic brightness.
