In advance of his fall show Bach Mai started documenting his show prep on Instagram, laying bare his struggles to create a collection in a mere 32 days with limited funds. Despite the designer’s good humor, it is a rather harrowing tale, the moral of which might be there’s no substitute for time. Time not only to make and remake garments, but time to have distance from the work and edit and refine it. The clock was not in Mai’s favor this season; his La Dévoyée show was just that, unfortunately misguided, mostly due to a surfeit of ideas.
“After last season, which was a very personal collection [it was dedicated to memory of his recently deceased father], I wanted to re-center what I thought my brand was about… and there’s always this idea of a courtesan. I love this idea of the classic with a twist of fetish,” he said. Mai’s interest in transgressive females, who are both powerful and fragile, led him in the direction of Catherine Deneuve in Belle du Jour, a story of a bourgeois woman’s “descent into depravity” as the show notes put it. This character’s influence was evident in the ’60s shapes and the scarf prints. Natalie Portman’s role as a stripper in Closer introduced shine and fringe into the collection. And Kylie Minogue’s Fever-era get-ups influenced the fringed ribbon top that was part of the first look and the folded ribbon pieces, which veered into Tom Ford at Gucci territory (as did some of the skirts with semi-sheer insets). All this seemed to distract Mai from his passion for couture, which was most evident in his signature dresses in the end.
The beauty of some of the fabrics was undeniable. This is the first season the brand has shown coats, and one in a silver tinsel by Hurel, one of Mai’s backers, was especially effective, as was its opposite, made up in a garment-dyed washed nylon. Elements of Mai’s popular bomber were nicely applied to the jacket of a teal evening pantsuit to great effect, the pants in the second look were well cut, and the “X-ray” floral (on the back of the opening look) were well done. Elsewhere, some of the shine effects were stunning, but that seems at odds with the designer’s stated goal.
“I want to give louche,” he declared on Instagram (meaning something sordid but nevertheless intriguing), yet all previous evidence suggests the designer is more closely aligned with two other L-words, luxe and liberality. Said Mai: “We have been the most diverse show in New York two seasons in a row, and we are hoping for a third.” With hope, next season he will have more time to work through these contradictions
