Lanvin F/W 09.10 Paris

[lordevan]

So far this is the best collection from Paris Fashion week

agreed

 

[KKnardi]

Sensual sobriety at Lanvin

PARIS: Marching purposefully down the wet road of a runway, the women - mostly black clad but one in a scarlet suit - waved at the Lanvin audience.

It was a defining moment in the autumn 2009 season, when bias-cut tailoring, fur stoles circling the shoulders and boldly studded dresses with just a soupçon of the 1980s spelt out the new fashion message: sensual sobriety.

The clothes that the designer Alber Elbaz sent out were an ode to women - not that romantic, ethereal creature of male dreams but a modern woman who can take a curve-heel shoe in her long stride; one who needs a suit, with jacket belted above a slim skirt; and whose idea of exposure is a soft cowl swooping below a bared upper back.

Lanvin has become a byword for modern glamour that responds to the female body, rather than controlling, or even torturing it.

Elbaz was on top form, with his nonchalant way of cutting a plain coat so that it covers but never smothers; or using stretch fabrics, on the bias, with never a hint of vulgarity. He seems to get inside the skin of a 21st century femininity, which is about a flurry of feathers crowning a scooped-back pony tail and the way a bodice is tamed into a big flat bow.

Two factors stood out: First, the technical skill that, as with traditional couture, made complex cuts seem oh-so-simple that the actress Kristin Scott Thomas sighed over a silver gray satin dress and imagined herself inside the scarlet suit.

The program even baptized the outfits with names from Arlette to Violette. You almost expected to hear them called out over the soundtrack.

The choice of fabrics also was exceptional, with the introduction of burnt-out dévorée velvet to give substance to surface, while the dresses remained so light.

Above all, this was a wardrobe of clothes from a designer who understands a woman in her different moods - gentle, aggressive, power worker, mother, lover - and makes fashion to embrace all of that.

suzy menkes, iht.com

 

[ForChicSake]

This Is The Paris Show I Wait For Every Season!

Elbaz Is God!

 

[mackos]

Aah, this is just what I needed Wonderful, it's only a pity Lanvin showed so early this season, it'll be hard to impress me after that!

 

[Inaya]

simply fantastic - I don't care if it's not ground breaking.

 

[thiago:)]

Love it, specially the last looks
Fabrics and textures are exquisite.

 

[KKnardi]

What's so innovative about the use of fur in this collection?

I think the word innovative gets thrown around too much. Very little of what we see on the runway is truly innovative. Someone has always done it before.

ok, maybe innovative is the wrong expression. fur is a heavy material, I just felt that it hung so lightly on the models here. and it takes a real designer to make something complicated and heavy look effortless and simple.

 

[dior_couture1245]

Perfect....just perfect. Alber is too good.

 

[Mutterlein]

So good it's not even funny

 

[JuiceMajor]

i everything he does!! the review by Suzy is truly exceptional!!

 

[JordanB]

Absolutely incredible. I love it all. his collections are always very consistent. He never fails to deliver.

 

[Amelia]

OMG it's so hard to make velour look high fashion, but that's exactly how it looks made by Alber. All the fabrics look so rich

 

[FogUponLA]

!!!!

 

[JuiceMajor]

any idea why Lanvin is showing early than usual? oh someome post HQ's soon please.

 

[slow_hands]

simply divine everything is just as it should be

 

[KKnardi]

there is a video at http://www.iht.com/pages/style/index.php

 

[mademoiselle_]

So Lanvin

 

[nicole-marie]

I just love this collection!!!! Alber is amazing!!!! The styling was just gorgeous!!!!! <3 <3

 

[Mr-Dale]

^Woah, I've never heard/read Suzy Menkes being so extremely positive about a collection...she almost started chanting!

 

[j´adore dior]

What I love about Alber is how witty his fashions are, with something so "effortless" as a little wing of fabric sewn to the armwhole he turned the shoulder line of his coats into the focal point of the garments embracing one very important trend this season in a very different way and that´s one hell of an achievement!

He knew shoulder pads were coming fiercely, he knew what is the role of them into a garment and twisted that idea while keeping its escence.

Impecably design, thoughtful and luxurious.

What else can we ask for?