Among the things that make Alexandre Vauthier’s ready-to-wear compelling is that he harvests his couture collections to make it. A self-described agoraphobic, he’d rather wonk out in his studio over, say, how to nudge hand-cut “porcupine” sequins toward a ready-to-wear proposition for his clients to paint the town, than tag along himself. (“My cursor has moved,” the designer quipped.)
Nights at Le Palace may be stardust now, but come spring Vauthier’s ladies will be painting the town in lashings of sequins or flashy, faded “liquid” denim, a new extrapolation of his embroidered pieces for couture. Primary colors—Klein blue, magenta, yellow—and their derivations, like emerald or purple, also took pride of place in a very ’80s register, shot here by Hans Feurer. “I wanted to feel sun, freshness, and make it a light summer,” Vauthier offered.
Not that he took the ’80s too literally. “When you look at what’s happening in the street, it’s one big mashup,” the designer pointed out. “It’s like we’re synthesizing everything that we knew from before, before jumping into something new.” Vauthier described this season’s muse as “A girl of her generation, almost boyish, but who embodies femininity in all its power: beautiful, strong, and going places.”
To get there, she might throw on one of the designer’s signature tailored jackets, a slouch-shouldered belted trench, and a T-shirt or a hoodie with structured shoulders and Vauthier’s Paris zip code. Or she could opt for something from a capsule of 10 semi-couture pieces, like an electric blue slip dress with a dozen or so gradient-sized sequins that cascade from the bust in ascending order. Draped jersey is Vauthier’s home base, and here it ran the spectrum from silver to black, perhaps cinched with a cowboy belt. Digital prints, too, made an appearance, in acid yellow flowers on a pleated black skirt. A few numbers in gold leaf-covered leather looked like solid investment pieces for the ages.
Accessories-wise, Vauthier revisited the bucket bag, a shape he considers “super luxury, sophisticated but practical.” An Italian factory with mega-brand cred agreed to produce four sizes of a bag whose kidney-bean shape is designed to embrace the body’s natural curve (there were also silver and gold mini-crossbodies for evening.) Those were embellished with strass-set chains or gold charms like an “Alex boot”—the stiletto style that’s catnip to Vauthier’s base. Speaking of footwear, the pant-boot shape the designer introduced five years back returned with added flourishes like a trompe l’oeil wrap detail that elongates to infinity and beyond.
Office appropriate? Not exactly, but the collection was more about living life to the fullest, Vauthier mused. “Things aren’t as carefree as before, which is anxiety-inducing,” he said. The way he sees it, a designer’s role is either to translate what’s happening out there in the world or to remind people of “the beauty of things; to make them want to embrace life.” Vauthier is squarely in the latter camp.
“I choose to see the glass as half-full,” he said. “I need to dream, to impress, to immerse myself in work and beauty.” For lack of a crystal ball, we might as well dress to the nines and make the most of it.
