November 14, 2017 |
We are all well aware that Mr Mouret is a safe pair of hands when it comes to serving up a dose of “Parisienne chic” season on season, but what is perhaps lesser known is the Frenchman’s infatuation with our own fair isle. Britain is where he has long called home – the Roland Mouret design studio is here and, as of two seasons ago, it’s where Roland has chosen to show his collections – swapping the vaulted halls of Paris for the Brutalist concrete lobby of London’s National Theatre to celebrate 20 years in the business. But it’s away from London for this, his Resort 2018 collection, and to the beach – not the promenades of St Tropez, or Cannes, where you may expect a Resort collection to naturally reside – but those along the Suffolk coastline, where Britain meets the rugged North Sea. Point here being – from Paris to Mayfair to the beaches of England, and just about all that comes between, these are clothes that women can wear anywhere they may choose to be. Because these are, at heart, clothes for women. Which may sound obvious, but it’s not always so – few people have Roland’s inimitable skill of draping and slicing fabric to create clothing that both flatters and emphasises the female form. Mr Mouret knows what women want. And here, whilst Mouret’s hallmark’s remain – namely, the focus on the body, and the waist, the overlapping, asymmetric panels – there is a renewed sense of looseness that has defined his collections of late. The handkerchief hemline is pervasive throughout this latest collection, lending the silhouette a welcome fluidity, so too the suspended neckline that falls away to reveal the shoulder. Layered peplums give easy volume, whilst tweed tailoring is cut to give his woman room to move. This Resort collection, then, becomes less about clothes to wear in far-off climes – but to wear every day, and to look mighty fabulous whilst doing so.
Photographs by Maria Ziegelböck
