BALMAIN Pre-Fall 2015

Olivier Rousteing says his pre-fall for Balmain is moving toward more fluidity, in his mind, the Parisian louchness of the seventies. Read floaty super-wide-leg jumpsuits in poppy prints of “the sort of wallpaper patterns you can still find in restaurants in Paris,” he laughs. It’s another step along the way in his mission to invent a look for Balmain that doesn’t have to do with short, body-con, hyper-embellished dresses. Not to say that element doesn’t still exist in the line, or the wide-shouldered, brass-buttoned sharply tailored blazers which have been around since before Rousteing took over from Christophe Decarnin. Both continue as Balmain sells.

True, times have changed for this brand. Rousteing’s found a new generational constituency, made friends with Rihanna and Kanye and Kim Kardashian West, and put them all in Balmain’s advertising. You can’t knock that global reach, in itself a rare thing for a Parisian house that doesn’t belong to a giant corporation. What next? Maybe working on showing some things that could count as casual daywear would add some energy, and some lower price tags, so that the kids who follow Balmain might be able to afford a piece or two.

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories 

Photo Credit/Source: Courtesy of BALMAIN

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'Elegant Tasseling by LANVIN Fall/Winter 2015/16'

Alber Elbaz mixed so many impulses: fear of the times, counteracted by flourishes of spontaneous fun; respect for the reality of modern working women; and sensual enjoyment of rich, hippie eclecticism. In dispensing with explanatory press releases or belabored explanations of where his ideas come from, Elbaz is right: What you see and feel about this sequence of clothes hardly needs earnest subtitles.

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"Lived-in" Luxurious Attitude by LANVIN Pre-Fall 2015

For his pre-fall showing, Alber Elbaz outfitted the Lanvin design studio on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré with a trio of well-worn velvet sofas, floral paintings, chunky ashtrays, a napping goldfish, and a taxidermied cat.

Enjoy the LANVIN Pre-Fall 2015 | The Making of video during this post! LoL, Andrea 

His intention was to transform one of Paris’s chicest ateliers into “grandma’s house” because “comfort” in his view, “is something that we’re lacking.” It was a clever and timely response to the vast, rapid, and often alienating way that fashion is produced, discussed, and consumed in a globally minded, digitally enabled world. Elbaz wanted to remind those assembled a small clutch of editors that fashion is ultimately not about the frontiers of technology and scale; that it all boils downs to “a thread, a needle, a seamstress.”

And what have those seamstresses stitched up for the brand? Elbaz presented fifteen looks, all with a certain “lived-in” luxurious attitude: sumptuous textures and generous proportions, eclectically composed. A short sheath in rose brocade under a gleaming metallic duffle was finished with leopard-print loafers and bag. A softly nipped, curvaceous tuxedo jacket topped mega-slouchy men’s trousers in a blown-up suiting plaid. The best dress (from a house known for great ones)? A glistening floral jacquard sack: seasonless and chic with heels or flats, tights or not ... possibly your new best friend that might live in your closet.

One might be tempted to see two distinct women in the collection: a festival-minded starlet Suki Waterhouse, say who favors rosy-hued fluff and wears stockings with jeweled sneakers, and her downbeat yet elegant older counterpart who wants a red-carpet-worthy “smoking” dress that slips on easy as a T-shirt. But that would be missing Elbaz’s point: The confidence to be comfortable, to be intimate, is a question more of temperament than age. Think of the many looks of Emma Stone, who often wears Lanvin with a fearless brilliance. Grandma’s house (Lanvin turns 126 this year) has surprisingly relevant cupboards.

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories 

Photo Credit/Source: The House of LANVIN

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 'Design of the Gods: GUCCI Dionysus Bag Collection' 

Design of the gods: For his first season for GUCCI, Alessandro Michele created the DIONYSUS BAG Collection, which is distinguished by a striking double Tiger-head closure. This unique detail references the Greek god of wine Dionysus, who in myth is said to have transformed himself into a tiger to carry a young nymph across the river that then became known as the Tigris. The Dionysus Bag is made in a number of versions in a variety of materials – suede, python and crocodile – and, perhaps in its most distinctive form, features the GG Supreme print.

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