AUDREY HEPBURN’S GRANDDAUGHTER ENTERS FASHION
If there was something funny about one of the faces on the Lanvin front row, it’s no surprise.
It was none other than Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer, the granddaughter model of silver screen icon Audrey Hepburn.
The genetically gifted 20-year-old model, the daughter of Hepburn’s first son Sean Ferrer, by actor Mel Ferrer, was exposed to the fashion world only last month. (Aptly, on the cover of August’s Harper’s Bazaar in a Hepburn-like chignon with fitted black sleeves.)
Though her grandmother died of a rare illness in 1993 — just over a year before she was born — in Ferrer’s dark sultry eyes, the genes clearly live on.
LANVIN’S TUXEDO, ART NOUVEAU, ASIAN SHOW
“Encyclopedic” is often a word associated with lauded Lavin designer Alber Elbaz.
And from this collection’s graphic menswear tuxedos, draped silk column silhouettes, and embellished vintage-looking ruffled dresses in lace, the reason for this was abundantly clear.
Elbaz has said he likes to make broad statements in his fashion to appeal to the maximum amount of women. In the 55 looks Thursday, there was a blurred focus with a bit of something for everyone.
That included women with a mind for history.
Jeanne Lanvin was first inducted into the Parisian federation of couture in 1909, and the Art Nouveau legacy of this time has stayed with the house DNA.
Beautiful turn-of-the-century organic leaf print looked almost Oriental on embroidered jackets, skirts and pants, and it delicately graced a gold and blue fluttery organza dress that could have been worn a hundred years ago or today.
RICK OWENS’S DELICATE SMOKINESS
“Rick Owens” and “feminine” don’t often go together.
But the talented American designer is always full of surprises, and Thursday’s delicate show proved this more than most.
It was mainly down to the sheer tulle and net material that channelled his long, loose, hang-from-the-shoulder silhouette, but thanks to its transparency engaged in feminine seduction.
The often shoulderless silhouettes descended in gentle A-line tulle, which flowed down the body.
The occasional tribal stripes and Masai-like face paints ensured guests didn’t think they were at another show.
But one transparent shoulderless body net in warm peach, through which the shorts underneath were smokily visible, is the most womanly he’s done in a long time.
That is, apart from the fierce, jagged-edged platforms
ROLAND MOURET GOES DELICATE
Before the Roland Mouret’s upcoming New York store opening, the French-born designer said he’s returning to the “feminine, modern and seductive aesthetic” of his brand.
In many of the spring-summer collection’s 38-looks, he did just that — channelling a more delicate aesthetic with soft pleated A-line skirts, gently frayed hems, loose shirts, and bows on the midriff.
The colours of clover green, muted orange, pale blue and primrose yellow added to the feminine musings. While warm coral red dresses, colour-blocked with contrasting blue sandals, came across as sexy.
As ever, with Mouret — king of the va-va-voom — the waist was accentuated, shoulders capped or exposed, and slim sheaths in abundant supply.
It was a move in a nice direction.
NINA RICCI
Nina Ricci’s designer, Peter Copping, was inspired by little scale models of couture dresses that Madame Ricci made in 1946 and sent around to promote French fashion after the Second World War, when materials were scarce.
There is always something of the little dolly in the British-born designer’s creations.
And here in Thursday’s show, the long, lean silhouettes in pink and white had it, with unfussy clean lines and delicate shoulder straps like one might find in a miniature model.
And small references gave a nod to the 1940s world in which Madame Ricci lived — like small shapely waists, attention to the knee through slits, and kick pleats in the skirt that reveal another colour underneath.
But this is a 2015 collection — and the discordant palette of shocking sunflower yellow, poppy red, black and saffron added a contemporary kick.
Colours such as gold fared less well in this 56-piece collection that would have benefited from more focus.
