With eight collections (not to mention a cheeky Gucci collab and a nod on Emily in Paris), Egonlab has sealed its place as a brand for the current cultural moment of free agency and self-actualization.
For the show, designers Florentin Glémarec and Kevin Nompeix made their point about the power of liberation through a remix by Pablo Bozzi—with an assist from audio tech player Devialet—of “Toute Première Fois” (“Very First Time”), a 1984 Jeanne Mas smash single about pleasure. In terms of dressing (or not), the show notes stated “bodies are blossoming like the flower of evil… break free from conventions and mingle in an endless soirée.” It was some soirée, for sure.
On the runway looks embraced “new masculinity” with sharp tailoring, revealing cuts, and an earnest campaign to reinstate the bumster, and not just in its trouser iteration—it might also take the form of cutaway, stud-trimmed jackets that looked tame enough in front but really let loose in back.
“We really wanted to deliver a show for our community, which has supported us enormously, and to bring a bit of freshness to a world that’s a little gray right now,” Nompeix said backstage before the show, as Grémarec tended to finishing touches on models. “We’ve always thought of our clothes as tools of expression and that’s also about nudity, and breaking the codes of dress, but without being vulgar,” he added. In any case, in these days of naked dressing, it seems that vulgarity, like beauty, exists only in the eye of the beholder.
Beyond the fun of spectacle, the duo noted they wanted to lean in on materials—their first love—and punk-inflected tailoring. Though some pieces owed a serious debt to other designers, there was plenty for fans of every persuasion to get excited about—a fur-collared trench, curve-hugging mesh cardigans, a leather jacket with a layered collar effect, a jacket in crushed chocolate velvet with gigot shoulders.
There were other flights of fancy too. The most noteworthy was an asymmetrical bustier in layered, resin-coated leather dipped in chrome that buckled in back. Of that piece, Nompeix said, “We consider fashion an art in its own right, so we wanted to take a step toward a new artistic and cultural level.” It wouldn’t be surprising to see that number, produced with Le Chemin Des Maquettes and Flávio Juán Nùñez, pop up on a red carpet somewhere.
A constellation of other collabs included two key looks in partnership with Umbro China; footwear by Toga Virilis; and arresting jewelry by Persta, a young French brand founded by twin brothers Olivier and Guilhem Faivre d’Arcier. Some of the gem-studded earrings-slash-cockrings spotted on the runway are already available online as of today in celebration of Pride Week.
