The models at Rabanne wore pumps encased in plastic, like see-through galoshes to protect their pretty shoes from the elements. They would’ve come in handy in the steady rain that fell most of the day here in Paris.
Like last season, Julien Dossena applied his prodigious skills as a designer to building out an everyday Rabanne wardrobe here. Though the word “everyday” doesn’t really do justice to the assemblages of garments in these looks, which consisted of a jacket (or sometimes two), layered over a half-buttoned shirt, a tee, and boxer shorts or a mini, with proportions he compared, quite aptly, to “a box with legs.”
But he didn’t tame his instinct for the exquisite either. Some of those not-so-basic basics were finished in silver foil, and a blazer’s lapels were embroidered all over with tiny silver discs. The foiling technique gave romantic lingerie pieces a space-agey vibe aligned with founder Paco Rabanne’s 1960s vision, while a sparkly embroidered top of geometric panels linked by metal chains and worn with beaded basketball shorts couldn’t look more now.
Most special were a trio of bags iterating on a Rabanne-made bag from 1969 in novel contemporary materials, one in Astier de Villatte’s fired white ceramic, another in blown glass from Murano’s Venini, and a third from coins of 18-karat gold by metalworker Arthus Bertrand officially dubbed the “world’s most expensive bag.” Each one was accompanied by a matching minidress, the gold version trailing floaty bits of gold leaf in its wake. That one isn’t likely to make it to the sales floor, but that’s alright with Dossena; the iterative nature of the process is what he dug into this season. “That’s what I love,” he said, “to experiment all the time, to explore the materials, and to try to push the boundaries, because that’s what the house is about.”
