Paris closes the fashion week season. Highlights from Isabel Marant, Louis Vuitton and Lacoste form three distinct directions.
Isabel Marant, photography courtesy of Isabel Marant
Wanderlust into the sunlight
At Isabel Marant, the spring/summer collection marks the start of a new journey. After 20 years, Isabel Marant steps down. Under the Dutch Kim Bekker, now stepping forward as creative director, the collection is inspired by the sun, moving from day into night.
The colour palette ranges from sun-bleached ease towards something more like sunset. Cream, sand, sun-faded tones set the tone. Closer to evening, desert tones deepen into bronze, dark violet, and black.
The always bohemian-inspired silhouettes have a looser aesthetic. Traveller-style workwear appears throughout. A mix of cargo trousers with folded hems, uniform-style or cotton aviator jackets or blouses with many pockets, and slouchy boots. Garments are wrapped around the waist. Soft linen and cotton fabrics sit alongside lightweight knits and more sturdy ones. Clothes shaped by heat, sand, and travel. Patchwork, leather and cotton in one look, styled for the road or a festival. Accessories match that direction. Leather or suede boots, slightly slouched with a worn look. Slippers contrast with lace-up boots. Belts with multiple eyelets. New bag shapes appear, larger, softer, closer to a hobo style. Silver necklaces and bracelets.
As night falls, another silhouette emerges. More skin is shown. Details become more visible. Tops with fringes and small beads, short spaghetti dresses with delicate beading. Embroidery, cutouts, and layered textures.
Iconic pieces for the bohemian French girl.
Lacoste, courtesy of Lacoste
Love Sports
At Lacoste, the core is sport. For the new season, creative director Pelagia Kolotouros takes the tennis court and locker room as a starting point.
The bright palette references the tennis court. Clay, grass green, white markings, deeper tones. Very familiar colours, reworked into a more layered composition, also through a variety of stripes. Don’t forget tangerine orange and royal blue as well.
Silhouettes in both menswear and womenswear are tailored in a sporty way. Tailoring softens into more slouchy shapes, with slightly oversized polos, shirts and outerwear. Many sporty jackets feature large zippers in contrasting colours. Diverse materials are at play here. Sheer layering, towel textures, nylon and reflective leather. One model wears an oversized white polo shirt, combined with a towel wrapped over wide trousers. It feels fun and playful. Accessories and details carry this concept further. Bags have a softer structure, while graphics and text reference the world of sport. Also large wallets and cardholders worn as necklaces. The crocodile returns as well.
The collection holds between sport and fashion, between performance and leisure.
Louis Vuitton, courtesy of Louis Vuitton
In Private Quarters
At Louis Vuitton, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière chooses the former summer apartments of Queen Anne of Austria inside the Louvre as the setting for the collection. The venue feels almost intimate. This time, the collection carries a historical layer, while remaining private in its atmosphere. A more intimate evocation of home.
The space is designed by French scenographer Marie-Anne Derville, who dresses it with 18th-century cabinets, ceramics by Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, and Art Deco chairs by Michel Dufet. The Louvre restored this gallery; the statues will return and remain there permanently.
Ghesquière centres on the idea of dressing within the private sphere. Not dressing down, rather dressing with intention, even at home. There is structure in softness. Volume on volume, at times almost over-exaggerated. Corsets sit over fluid trousers, knits wrap around the body. It feels like walking through a home, wrapping yourself in cosy wools in soft pastels. A sense of warmth, of being indoors.
Shapes reference different moments in time. Light silks, wool, layered textures give the body another silhouette. Neutral, earthy tones are combined with powder blues and soft pinks. The palette continues into deeper shades as well.
Furniture and objects from different periods are brought together in the setting, echoing the collection. There is a sense of play. Proportions exaggerate, combinations feel unexpected. Almost like dressing up for fun at home. A kind of inner private travelogue.
All images, courtesy of the designers.
www.louisvuitton.com
www.isabelmarant.com
www.lacoste.com
