Last season, Ami Paris shut down Sacré-Coeur and coaxed French actor Audrey Tautou, Montmartre’s unofficial ambassador thanks to her career-defining role in the 2001 film Amélie, out of semi-retirement to open the show. After the brand’s appearance in an episode of the third season of Netflix’s wildly popular series Emily in Paris, in which the titular marketing whiz orchestrates a campaign featuring Ami-logo balloons, show attendees might have expected to have Paris’s perkiest American envoy Emily Cooper (played by Lily Collins) leading the fall lineup.
Instead, founder Alexandre Mattiussi went back to basics. “I’ve already done a lot about that Parisian postcard vibe,” he said, speaking at a preview the day before the show. “After 12 years, this is what we’ve been known for, this Parisian chic, easygoing energy. But I felt with this collection it has to be something else.” Something else turned out to be an Opéra Bastille location (the more modern of Paris’s two opera houses and the one widely mocked on account of its resemblance to a cruise ship) and a pared-back collection that focused on semaphoring languid ease.
Turns out the ugliest opera house in Europe once played host to a young, ballet-mad Mattiussi, “the village Billy Elliot”, when he auditioned for the prestigious Opéra Palais Garnier dance school at the age of 14. He quickly realized he disliked the intensity of the competition and gave up his dancing dreams. But he is still very fond of the institution. “It’s about coming back to a place I feel comfortable in, that means a lot to me,” he said. “So it’s like my first collection – it’s actually the collection I wish I had made when I started 12 years ago.”
Not that he regrets anything he’s designed. After all, it’s made Ami into a major commercial hit. Still, personal struggles, including his father suffering from a period of severe illness in the summer, have taught him that success is fragile. “When I came back [to work] in September, I said, guys, let’s start from scratch. Imagine I am the new creative director, whatever we’re gonna do, I’m gonna pretend it’s the first time I’ve seen it. Even the best-sellers.”
Step one: scrub the Instagram feed clean. Step two: shelve the bright colors in favour of a muted palette of vanilla, butter, and gray. Step three: shrink the logo. Then place an emphasis on fluid silhouettes— generous overcoats cut with a certain amount of slouch, pleated wide-leg trousers, flat shoes worn with nubbly cappuccino-hued socks—and comfortable fabrics. The K Pop stars were still in attendance (Hoshi from the boy band Seventeen caused pandemonium outside) alongside the TikTokers (Vinnie Hacker) and the regular celebrities (Usher, Catherine Deneuve). After all, these clothes need to sell. But as Charlotte Rampling closed the show, radiant in a navy-blue pant suit, one sensed a vibe shift.
