At the House of Lanvin, the Return of French Chic

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By CATHY HORYN

PARIS — A few moments after the last dress appeared at the Lanvin show, a garnet-color silk drape that swept the boards of the Salle Wagram and was worn with a single strand of pearls, the applause started. It grew thunderous when the designer, Alber Elbaz, took his bow, and it followed him backstage, crowded and hot, as people pressed forward — the models, the photographers surrounding him — and then another spontaneous cheer went up.No show of the spring 2005 ready-to-wear season, which ended here on Sunday, received such a response.

Mr. Elbaz's collection was perfect because the clothes themselves were imperfect. They were made of washed cotton and silk faille, often with raw edges. Some of the jackets, shapely, with wide lapels, were creased at the elbows, as if they had already been worn, and Mr. Elbaz's many skirts came not just in different volumes but also in subtle degrees of volume, which you can get only when clothes are made by hand.

Contemporary life is messy and fast-paced, and for that reason clothes should look relaxed, but few designers are able to adapt French technique to that modern ideal better than Mr. Elbaz. It might be a single-buttoned jacket in white silk with a loose back (after Balenciaga), worn over a knee-length black skirt that looks as airy as gazar, or a plain raincoat in taupe faille that is manifestly Parisian in its silhouette.

Mr. Elbaz's starting point was Venice and Fortuny, to which he added a blend of Lyon silk and Madame Grès drapery, and tribal patterns from Uzbekistan. Lyon, Venice, Uzbekistan: unwittingly, he had taken the Silk Road.

But there is nothing remotely casual about his brain. Few young designers would have the audacity to propose a teacup-shaped skirt with a silk top draping over it — the proportion would rattle them — or see the simplicity of putting a navy charmeuse shirt, its sleeves rolled up like a man's, with a slim black faille skirt.

Among those who came to the Salle Wagram on Sunday to watch were two of Mr. Elbaz's former bosses: Ralph Toledano, now the president of Chloé; and Pierre Bergé, the former chief of Yves Saint Laurent.

By contrast, the clothes that Stefano Pilati showed in his debut collection for Yves Saint Laurent lacked air. They came close to falling on French clichés of seduction: the nipped little waist, the high heel with a pompom on the toe, the short skirt gathered bustle-style over the fanny. At this stage, there's no need to point out that Mr. Saint Laurent's clothes represented all things French, but what made him modern, especially in the 1960's and 70's, were the things he rejected about French life, particularly its stuffier bourgeois codes. And Mr. Pilati, strange as it must sound, embraced them in this collection.

While he was right to want to impart a sense of line at Saint Laurent, even if the short lengths and fussy skirts will be cruel to most women, Mr. Pilati needs to get his head around what made Saint Laurent clothes click with women in the first place. That doesn't mean duplicating the safari jacket or the smoking, only understanding why they mattered — and then finding a contemporary expression, as Mr. Elbaz has done at Lanvin.

Mr. Pilati has the talent. It was evident in a deep purple suede coat and in his spree of polka dots. But he needs to relax, break up the outfits, and be more daring than respectful.

As Loulou de la Falaise, who was Mr. Saint Laurent's assistant for many years, said on her way out of the Lanvin show, French chic looks cool again. "It's not about showing off," said Ms. de la Falaise, whose own collection of seersucker trousers mixed with chiffon Liberty prints and cotton tuxedo-front shirts picked out in lace effortlessly underscored that point.

Olivier Theyskens at Rochas and Lars Nilsson at Nina Ricci have also given a fresh spin to French dressmaking. The news at Rochas was blurry floral prints and a more relaxed attitude for day, though Mr. Theyskens's best gesture was to hint at undressing in his immaculate clothes. He did this mostly at the back, with a glimpse of a couture foundation or a half-open seam that suggested a dress being unzipped.

Mr. Nilsson continues to expand on Nina Ricci's sexy underpinnings, adding bras he worked on with the corsetier Mr. Pearl, while giving more substance to the clothes: gray taffeta jackets subtly pinstriped with white threads and charming wrap dresses with hazy polka dots and a hem of Jacquard-weave lace. His palette, too, is more expansive, with raspberry and a deep raisin tone added to the Ricci buttercup.

Rounding out a strong Paris season was Valentino's glossy collection, which, along with VAL belt buckles and chic Empire dresses in lilac, had major Tressie hair (you know, older girls, Barbie's friend). An American retail chief compared the collection to a candy store of treats, and later was seen bounding toward Ladurée, the pastry shop. I guess he couldn't wait. Valentino's plissé dresses and his creamy whites, mixed with coffee and gold, made for a sweet hit parade.

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Lanvin is a Paris clothing label founded by Jeanne Lanvin. Jeanne Lanvin was born in 1847 and died in 1946. She was a French fashion designer and the founder of the Lanvin fashion house. Lanvin became known for her mother and daughter outfits and exquisite robes de style as well as her modern and global approach to the fashion industry. Lanvin was the eldest of 11 children. At age 16 she was an apprentice milliner at Madame Felix in Paris then trained at dressmaker Talbot and 1889 set up as a milliner at 22 rue du Faubourg Saint Honore. The House of Lanvin is one of the most famous Paris design houses of our time.

from The History of Fashion

Madame Jeanne Lanvin's active fashion career spanned 50 years from the 1890's up to the New Look just after World War II. In 1867 Jeanne Lanvin was born on New Year's day of 1867 in Parus, France. She was the eldest of 10 children of a pair of Paris journalist. She started her career at the age of 13 in the year 1880 at the hatshop of Madam Felix in the famous fashion street of Paris, the Rue du Faubourg Sant-Honore.. Then she trained as a dressmaker at a house called Talbot. In 1889 she started up her own millinery shop in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore and added womenswear to her line.

In 1901 the Lanvin name was added toi the French Fashion Yearbook (or directory of designers) and she became very popular.. In 1895 Jeanne married the Italian aristocrat Count Emilio di Pieror. In 1897 her daughter Marguerite was born. She divorced Count Pietro in 1903. However, she remarried in 1907 to a journalist named Xavir Melet, who later became the French consul in Manchester, England, although Jeanne did not live in England much.

While making hats in the first decade of the 1900's, she also made dresses for a younger sister and her daughter. Lanvin's clothes came to the attention of other mothers with daughters, who asked her to make dresses for them, so in 1909 Jeanne began making dresses for sale (in addition to hats) and her reputation grew in Paris as a designer of mother-daughter fashions. As can be seen from the pictures shown here of early 1910's (Edwardian era in England) of the clothes she made, she made no distinction between women's and children's wear, the youthfulness of both being an important aspect of early 20th century fashion. Demand by young women for her clothes, persuaded Jeanne Lanvin to open a Haute Couture section of her house, selling very high quality -mother/daughter fashions. Jeanne's love of Botticelli, stained glass windows and Impressionist paintings was the inspiration for her romantic clothes. She dressed the Princesse de Lucinge, Sasha Guitry's four wives, and numerous other celebrities of the day. A tulle collar worn on top of a black daydress, is shown here.

The Lanvin Logo

Paul Iribe, the famous illustrator, created the Logo shown on the right, for the house of Lanvin, from a drawing by Jeanne herself stressing the bond between here as a mother and her daughter Marguerite (called by her ......) shown on the left. Jeanne Lanvin's daughter Marguerite was a beautiful child and young adult, adored by her mother, with a brilliant sense of style. Her mother loved to dress her in wonderful creations. In the early 1920's she made a very aristocratic marriage to a French Count. She was one of the leading fashion icons of the 1920's and 1930's. She changed her name to Marie-Blance abd became the Comtesse de Polignac, continuing to wear her mother's beautiful gowns. In 1913 Lanvin created her famous "robes de style" based on 18th century designs. These small waisted, full skirted dresses remained popular for many years and were fore-runners of the New Look which Dior brought out just after World War II.

In 1914 influenced by orientalism, she turned to exotic evening wear in Eastern-style velvets and satins. During the 20's Lanvin made a simple Chemise dress which later became the basic outline for the twenties. Over the following years, she introduced several interesting developments. In 1921 a Riviera collection introduced Aztec embroidery. In 1922 a Breton suit appeared in the Lanvin collection. This comprised a gently gathered skirt, a short braided jacket with lots of small buttons and a big white organdy collar turning down over a red satin bow. A sailor hat topped the outfit.

In 1919, just after World War I ended, Jeanne introduced what was called the "Wartime Crinoline". It was a big change from the Hobble skirt in fashion just a few years earlier (started by Poiret) and ladies preferred the new mid-calf length fuller skirt, with the waist in the proper place. One of her designs from 1919 is shown here.on the right. With this look, a parasol, a wide-brimmed hat and a fan were compulsory accessories if one wanted to be "de rigeur". Many of her evening gowns were fringed with monkey fur, ostrich, steel beads, velvet ribbons or silk tassels.

As the 1920's came in, dancing was the craze, so dresses got shorter, withe fringes at thehem, and a flatter chested silhouette was popular. Hair was much shorter than in the Edwardian decade and so the Cloche hat became popular. Headbands were also a craze to keep the hair in place while doing dances like the Charleston. Jeanne Lanvin kept up with all these new crazes by designing the clothes the young twenties ladies wanted. Jeanne Lanvin dressed film actresses like Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and Yvonne Printemps in the 20's and 30's. She also had clients like the Queens of Italy and Roumania, and English princesses.

Her work was easily recognizable by her skilful use of embroidery and her fine craftsmanship as shown here from 1923. She used a particular shade of blue so often that it came to be known as "Lanvin Blue". For Jeanne Lanvin, women were meant to wear clothes of unabashed feminity, in colours that were pretty, and whose shapes had a "young girl" look. She often set the mood with narrow empire-waisted dresses and long trailing sleeves. In 1926 a menswear division was opened by Lanvin, and so she became the first couturier to dress whole families including sons and fathers. Her branches were opened in Nice, Cannes and Biarritz.

The fabrics that she used were silk, taffeta, velvet, silk chiffon, organza, lace, tulle, etc. She used a lot of free-flowing ribbons, ruffles, flowers, lace, mirrors, etc., and liked ornamentation like applique, couching, quilting, parallel stitching, and embroidery. The house of Lanvin, like all other houses, suffered throughout the 2nd World War, although she kept designing. In 1946, Jeanne Lanvin died at the age of 79. Her daughter Marie-Blanche took over the running of the house, till she herself died in 1958. Antonio del Castillo, a Spanish designer, joined Lanvin as designer in 1950 and returned the house to great success. He remained until 1962. In 1963 Jules-Francois Crahay, a Belgian designer, took over the reins of the house, and remained till 1984. In 1982 Maryll Lanvin, the third generation of the Lanvin family, started designing for the house. The Cosmetic giant L'Oreal acquired the house of Lanvin in 1990 and has appointed several designers thereafter.

During the 90's in addition to presenting his own collections, Claude Montana has also been designing for Lanvin. Giorgio Armani also designed for a while. From 1997 to 2001 Christina Ortiz was the chief designer for haute couture. From 1997 to 2001 Lanvin's ready-to-wear collections were being designed by ex-Versace, ex-Herve Leger designer Ocimar Versolato. In August 2001 an investor group led by Shaw Lan Wang, a Taiwanese media baroness, took over the house of Lanvin. They appointed Israeli-born designer Elber Albaz as the new creative director of Lanvin. His first collection was Fall 2002.

Alber Elbaz

In October 2001, the house of Lanvin announced the appointment of Alber Elbaz as the new creative director. His first collection was Fall 2002. Click on Alber Elbaz to read more about him.

Spring/Summer 2003 :

Alber Elbaz presented Lanvin's Spring/Summer 2003 collection in Paris in October 2002 which was very well received. This is an outfit from that collection. He beat the drum for Africa and produced a graceful collection of rugged linens, raw edges and proud heads.

Fall/Winter 2003 :

Alber presented the Fall collection for the house of Lanvin during Paris Fashion Week in March 2003. On the right is an outfit from the collection which had a ladylike-meets-military theme. Elbaz pushed delicate classicism towards an inspiring new edge. He used extravagant materials - satin ribbon Chantilly lace, couture-grade silk, python skin and fur - and worked them alongside more modern exposed zippers and ribbed jersey.

Spring/Summer 2004

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2003, Alber Elbaz showed his Lanvin collection for next Spring. A dress from this collection is shown on the left. His particular focus was seamless draping, possibly the trickiest of all technical challenges. He showed slinky thirties-era glamour. He wrapped satin and taffeta around the body, with edges tied in loose flat bows or flicks out from sides of dresses. Silver or bronze sequined dresses looked divine and right in step with this season's styles. He described how the collection evolved by saying "every dress was done three times and everytime I cancelled something, in the end we only did dresses made out of one piece of fabric. This was new for me, very light, almost timeless. I added masks to give a mood of carnival of happiness and enjoyment." If you want to read more about Alber Elbaz career, click here.

Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear

Alber Elbaz presented the Lanvin Fall collection in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004. An outfit from the show is pictured on the right. this is a glorious feather coat which seems to fly away. Alber is a favourite with celebrity ladies because of his signature touches. His taffeta trench coats, satin ribbon details, his use of jewelry. This time he pinned crystal flower brooches on day dresses and put shredded chiffon roses in buttonholes. Some of his creations were so innovative, like a twisted loop at the back of a short black silk dress that opened to transform into a train. Another was a draped silk apron that untied to leave a bare shif beneath. He showed vests which could be worn over or under coats and detachable collars and cuffs to change your outfit according to your mood.

Spring/Summer 2005

During Paris Fashion Week in October 2004, Alber Elbaz showed his Lanvin collection for next Spring. A dress from this collection is shown on the left. This collection emphasized the success that Alber is having, showing generous skirts and puffy silhouettes drenched in exquisite colour from intense purples through sophisticated neutrals and pastels. He used Greek pleats along the lines of Madame Gres' creations and flowy gowns like Fortuny's tunics. His embellishments were strands of pearls, ribbons or blue stones, and he even added brass-bobbles to pockets.

Autumn/Winter 2005

The much beloved Alber Elbaz' Autumn/Winter collection for the house of Lanvin, was shown during Paris Fashion Week in March 2005. On the left is one of the beautiful Little Black Dresses included in the show, this one with a high waist line and a fluttering chiffon skirt. He has been most successful at Lanvin because of his soft dresses and simple coats. He played with different silhouettes in a masterful way, short and wide for a swing coat or full skirt and long and slim with a mini trench coat. A sharp tuxedo coat dress or a playful feathered dress, along with a grey jersey column that was grace itself.

Lanvin's Success

Alber has become much beloved by Lanvin clientele. He uses not only black, or the white he chose when Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons asked him to participate in her London store, but also vivid satins in parakeet green or fuscsia, or a bright red trenchcoat. He says that his boss offers him freedom and respect so that he can mix sportswear with couture grace, comfort with elegance.

Spring/Summer 2006
Paris Fashion Week

Alber Elbaz presented his Lanvin Spring/Summer 2006 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2005. A grey satin sleeveless knee-lenth dress from the collection is shown on the right. It has applique black satin flowers on it. He went for the eighties look, with a lot of black clothes worn with obi sashes or a Japanese hair ornament. Shoulders were sharper this season, and neckties gave some clothes a masculine air. He used Japan and cherry blossoms as inspiration for his cocktail dresses. He did use a few witty details, like a zipper deliberately left half closed on the back of a dress. Kimono dresses, delicately wrapped, were charming.