“It’s just a polo shirt,” Alber Elbaz said about the opening look for Lanvin’s spring show. Only this polo shirt, dramatically oversized, had been stonewashed intensively, with the most distressed parts crudely repaired with random stitches.
“I wanted things to have a lived-in feel – like it belongs to you – not squeaky new,” noted men’s wear designer Lucas Ossendrijver. “I like the idea that things aren’t perfect.”
And so tank tops sagged low under slouchy suits; quilted vests dangled extra threads from each vertical channel, and utility details came etched in ragged stitches on a full canvas worker jacket. While the intense handiwork will surely be lost in an Instagram post, the two men view it as a way to stand out from the pack.
The collection did not stray from recent efforts, the dark palette vaguely dystopian; the silhouettes – high-waist pants, satin jackets, diner shirts – vaguely Fifties, and the attitude veering between rock star and haute bicycle messenger.
The smorgasbord of options included a variety of suit silhouettes – from linear to zoot loose – in an airy, wool-nylon blend with a slight sheen that billows and ripples luxuriously. Overcoats had the same relaxed, breezy feel, including ones in paper-thin leather bonded to cotton toile.
Kudos to team Lanvin that these labor-intensive clothes looked so effortlessly cool.
