As a follow-up to an “idea lab” of a couture show, Alexandre Vauthier said he was looking to shake things up a bit. He meant the clothes, of course, but he was also talking about his own vocabulary and process. “I wanted to stay with something chic but softer,” the designer said during a showroom preview. “I wanted to take things down a notch. We all need something a little gentler and sweeter,” he offered, drawing a parallel with the current trend for splashing out on pastries.
In that spirit, Vauthier found ways of distilling his couture ideas, paring away feathers and flounces into ready-to-wear iterations with a similar allure. A long, one-sleeve white bias-cut satin dress from the couture runway was reincarnated, for example, in a different construction in jersey and viscose, which had the added advantage of being wrinkle resistant and therefore travel friendly. Another dress in red jersey covered in micro crystals, worn here by Karen Elson in look 6, followed the same logic. Embellished couture numbers, like a hand-colored gown embroidered by Lesage, found a fresh iteration in gradient red and black.
Vauthier’s other passion, tailoring—a craft honed with Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier—appeared in ample trousers paired with a cinched jacket, in red velvet or black or white flannel for day, perhaps with a jeweled lapel. A solid lineup of leopard-print pieces ran the gamut from an ethereal dress and a trench to sweaters, as well as jeans in soft flocked denim. Other separates included Fair Isle sweaters with tonal strass or a standout velvet knit sweater with the season’s leg-of-mutton sleeves. (The feathers returned on an off-the-shoulder version in the same material.)
“I want to hold on to the magic of the impalpable,” the designer said of his new techniques. “Even if we live at the center of luxury and sophistication, women work, and they are in the middle of it all. You can’t forget the product.”
