Could this be one of our favourite shows of the season? Oui oui. Bouchra Jarrar’s Lanvin woman was bathed in splendour. In Summer 2017 we will be feeling sensual. A little bit mysterious. Veiling and unveiling as Jarrar says. And so the Lanvin ladies walked under chandeliers at the Hotel De Ville in white silk satin and chiffon, light pleats, a suggestion of a kilt and sheer black chiffon. Diamonds and gold chains dropped from wrists and ankles, and necks. It was a little dark, the romanticism of the floral prints from Jarrad’s first Lanvin Resort collection were here reworked into corsages on the straps of the dresses and lapels. The models drifted on encrusted, jewelled shoes both flat and heeled which we loved. Androgynous tailored jackets juxtaposed with the silk chiffon transparency showed off the female form, softening that hint at gender play. The minimal signature of Jarrar was so perfectly polished here for the new Lanvin woman. Low swagged necklines, slightly reminiscent of Marie Antoinette hung low. The chiffon Yves Klein cobalt blue was the rockstar, the crescendo, a monotone symphony moment in the collection. Intense. It was Bouchra Jarrad’s DNA fused with that Lanvin sense of chic grace and suffused with that suggestion of something naughty, and something totally now. It caught our breath. Maybe it’s takes a woman’s touch. You know a man didn’t make those clothes. Quietly intelligently fabulous.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans