by Annie Vischer
It is fair to say that the word on everyone’s lips on the Thursday of Paris Fashion Week AW14 was Lanvin. Lanvin, Lanvin, Lanvin. There had been rather a big build-up. Alber Elbaz had rated his latest collection for the French fashion house as Triple X, so there was a lot of expectation for what was to come.
The front row was as star-studded as you might expect from a brand famed for it’s hard-hitting ad campaigns and renowned silhouettes. Rihanna sat next to Mel Ottenberg, Emma Roberts grazed elbows with Anna Dello Russo. The lights dimmed, the music started beating, and all eyes were angled to runway wings as the first model made her steps onto the catwalk.
Everything about the show was dramatic. The lighting threw shadows everywhere, and where there was light, it was stark and bold. It was evident that Elbaz had thrown himself into a love affair with texture for this collection. Every piece that sashayed down the runway boasted a textural exaggeration or contrast. There were dogtooth skirts that were rouched to oblivion, mini dresses swathed in overly-long fringing, slim-fitting sleeves pushed up and crinkled, and fur coats and collars overflowing in volume like waterfalls.
The models for the show, which included amongst them the likes of Edie Campbell, were made over with that same preoccupation with contrast and texture. Their hair was slicked and simple, their skin glowing, and their eyes overtaken by an imperfect swipe of black across the entire lid, no doubt aimed at joining in the shadow game the the lighting team had been organised to play.
Edwardian silhouettes made their way down the runway with My-Fair-Lady-esque hats and skirts, offsetting the dark colour-blocked and blunt looks that preceded them.
Lanvin AW14 was a show in every sense of the word, and Elbaz took to the stage for the well-deserved rapturous applause that greeted him. C’etait super.
Catch up with Paris Fashion Week with out pic of the Instagram snaps right here.