For several years already, Christelle Kocher has merged her women’s and men’s lines into a single runway show, so Koché’s jump to the men’s/pre-collection calendar didn’t seem to alter the design approach so much as the turnout—fewer editors than what normally show up in September and February, but a noticeable increase in style-savvy male guests who were likely attending for the first time. The decision was primarily strategic, as the label is poised to benefit from the bigger budgets that buyers have during these periods. Hence Kocher tempered some of her typical novelty while delivering a steady lineup of going-out looks that highlighted her couture-level skills and street-chic sensibility. She conjured a Paris-New York hybrid—call it Chanel’s alt-sibling—and made this her point of differentiation (by now, most people know the designer is also artistic director of Chanel’s Maison Lemarié).
As Kocher told it, the calendar shift prompted an inverse response towards “more femininity, vulnerability and sensitivity for women and for men,” which she expressed through softly contoured dresses, tailoring paired with lingerie-type pieces, and a whole lot of lace (hand-painted and slicked in silver for the runway). For all the ornamentation—tops covered in silvery leaf embellishments, suits pattered in micro crystals, knits sprouting delicate feathers, curving rows of staple-like studs—the collection had an appealing ease. That Kocher continues to enlist creative friends and non-models (among them Quentin Lepoutre, the French musician better known as Myd, and Nigerian Afrobeats artist Ruger) proves that she is thinking of the clothes beyond the runway.
She also compiled quotes from some of her favorite female poets and authors, which were scribbled, diary-style, on wardrobe standbys in white and black. A sampling: “Better to be without logic than without feeling,” from Charlotte Brontë; “Instinct leads me to another flow,” from Queen Latifah; and “Bring me the sunset in a cup,” from Emily Dickinson. Though this gave a wistful art-student vibe, it was the only element that lacked Kocher’s typical finesse.
Ultimately, Koché’s first men’s calendar collection will be remembered more for its remixed greatest hits—the fancified sport jersey, hand-painted lace and multipaneled knits—than for newness. Put another way, Kocher is reacquainting people with her strengths, which include Parisian venues that reject cliché. Today’s outing took place on an extra-large barge due west of the Eiffel Tower that is a wellness center by day and a gathering spot by night. The runway edged around a shallow pool on the upper deck, and as we baked under the sun, the models carried themselves with a cool nonchalance. “It is an evolution, yet you always become more yourself,” Kocher said. Here’s to the (self) discovery.
