Lanvin is loved at Paris fashion week
Paris fashion week was a Lanvin love-fest this season as designer Alber Elbaz showcased a tassel-laden collection inspired by Morocco and kicked off a retrospective of France's oldest surviving couture house.
Lanvin's Winter 2015 ready-to-wear show, which drew a newly blond Kim Kardashian to the front row on Thursday night, was a study in refined chic despite the liberal use of decadent velvets and satins and its pervasive Bohemian spirit.
A cropped navy jacket paired with shiny black boots and trousers sporting a thick red side-stripe cut a dashing line worthy of any Hussar, while the North African influence emerged with black tassels and fringe on blanket-like yet supremely feminine skirts, dresses and coats.
So strong was the collection that even the frenzied side-show of Kardashian and rapper husband Kanye West arriving a half hour late did not detract. Also sporting platinum locks was actor Jared Leto, who added mirrored sunglasses and a pair of duck boots to the look for good measure.
In an overdue homage to the house's founder who died in 1946, the Palais Galliera fashion museum presents through August a retrospective of the work of Jeanne Lanvin, from golden pearl-encrusted turbans to airy silk dresses in shades of absinthe or sea-foam thickly embroidered with glittering crystals.