Lanvin is loved at Paris fashion week
Alber Elbaz, Israeli-American artistic director for fashion house Lanvin, visits the Jeanne Lanvin exhibition at the Palais Galliera in Paris , March 6, 2015. [Photo/Agencies] |
Elbaz was on hand on Friday to show off some of the 90 pieces on display, many featuring Art Deco geometric motifs and intricate embroidery and beading. Some fabrics are so delicate they cannot be steamed to remove wrinkles, he said.
"When you see the collection, there is such a modernity," Elbaz, a claret-hued velvet scarf draped over his shoulders, told journalists. "I opened up boxes from 100 years ago. I saw the care with which they were made, how long they took ... it's a mirror to the past."
Raf Simons at Dior, meanwhile, took inspiration from the 1970s for a collection of abstracted animal patterns in odd pairings of sky blue and caramel, fuchsia and maroon or orange and turquoise that the designer said came from "a new species."
That likely gave no comfort to the foxes sewn together into ungainly dresses that recalled Wilma's wardrobe in the Stone Age television cartoon series "The Flintstones".
On safer ground were his structured wool suits with cropped pants worn with ankle boots or the long fitted wool coats in electric green and mustard yellow.
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