Thinking About Alber. Lanvin AW10

August 15, 2024August 15, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Lately I’m feeling very sentimental for the late Alber Elbaz‘s Lanvin. Maybe it’s also the anticipation for Peter Copping’s (hopeful) revival of the Parisian house. But I truly miss Elbaz and his incredible, unmatched approach to dress-making. The autumn-winter 2010 collection is one of my all-time favorite Alber for Lanvin moments. For day, it began with no-nonsense, clean silhouettes cut from matte stretch materials with a molded structure (see Magdalena Frąckowiak’s look!); dresses and coats were cut roomy in the shoulder, tapering to sensually clutch the hips. The eveningwear, consisting of simple jersey togas, was just so sublime. But with Elbaz, you always had minimalist ideas clashed with the joy of maximalism. The technical starkness of the collection was gradually steered away with the addition of chunky metal and rock-crystal jewelry, ostrich feather, sheer lace, and beaded spine-tracing zippers, building up to dynamic feats of diagonal pleating that crossed the torso in one direction and shot across the hips in the other. Dark, yet sensational glamour at its best.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Ultra Lady. Louis Vuitton AW10

January 8, 2022 | Design & Culture by Ed

There are those collections in fashion history that just get better with time. For a while now, I’m absolutely obsessed with Louis Vuitton‘s autumn-winter 2010 – one of the best collections created by Marc Jacobs for the French maison. “And God Created Woman” announced the program, bringing up thoughts of the era of the young Bardot, of fifties-sixties wasp waists, and circle skirts. At the time, Mad Men was on everyone’s minds and TV screens (those were the pre-Netflix times…), and that same season, Miuccia Prada also went for the retro ultra-femininity. Jacobs’ collection was stark contrast casting-wise (lets not forget 2010 was peak time of the super-skinny-model standard) as the designer called on Laetitia Casta, Bar Refaeli, Catherine McNeil, Karolina Kurkova, and finally Elle Macpherson, all women whose physical attributes have acted as a disqualification for fashion show participation for years. The rehabilitation of the embonpoint was done with refinement. Marc framed it more as a fresh, feminine, ingenue look, with hair scraped back into high, bouncy B.B. ponytails; clean makeup; and square-toed, block-heeled pumps trimmed with flat bows. The show swung along prettily as a fountain sprayed and jolly fifties movie music played in the middle of the tented courtyard, creating that quintessentially Parisian atmosphere, a sense of all being right in the best of all possible cities to be appreciated as a woman. Not only the lady-like silhouette was the main focus – the charming details and trimmings exemplified the LV knack for classy detail, as in fur buttons, collars and glittery heels. I sometimes really miss Marc’s Louis Vuitton…