Lemaire Ready To Wear Fall/Winter 2020 Paris

Sarah-Linh Tran and Christophe Lemaire featured the work of Mexican artist Martin Ramírez in a lineup imagined as concealer for the body at Lemaire Ready To Wear Fall/Winter 2020 Paris

Lemaire’s models arrived in clusters. Some walked with purpose, cutting across the marbled floor fast; others strolled by unhurried, stopping to take a good look at the late Thirties architecture of Paris’ medical faculty building. The soundtrack gave the cinematic impression of a très French train station. “We liked the idea that it was a departure or a transitional pass,” said codesigner Sarah-Linh Tran after their travelers had scattered backstage.

The pair’s succession of long and lean silhouettes, cunningly assembled to blend the edges between layers, was broken down into chromatic groups of winter neutrals. Further on, concentric lines appeared, blossoming into full-bodied prints taken from the work of Mexican artist Martín Ramírez, a prominent representative of 20th-century outsider art. The late artist’s raw, graphic imagery had resonated with the designers mostly from an aesthetic point of view, although his tragic fate added poignancy.

Tran and partner Christophe Lemaire worked around the idea of monochromatic silhouettes that served as a form of full-body concealer. Textures added relief and visual intrigue, but also allowed the idea of creating easy-to-pair capsules. “You see the draping and the color but mostly you see the face and how the person moves,” said Tran.

Naming standouts would be hard, not for lack of charm but because the lineup felt like a continuous spectrum of good choices. Ultimately, what Lemaire offers feels like solution-based dressing, albeit with a cerebral edge to the aesthetic — exactly what their healthy and growing customer base appreciates.