Lanvin Catwalk Fashion Show Paris Womenswear SS2016

Alber Elbaz is always the one to look back and compare. We used to be designers. Now, we’re image-makers”, he said pre-show. He had been struggling to work through the puzzles confronting designers in a digital age. What is relevant today? Is it need or provocation? What is the role of fashion as entertainment? And, most relevant to his show: Can fashion and theater coexist? In turned out they can. At least for today, cause Elbaz staged his SS2016 show as a theater, placing the Lanvin name up in glittering lights at one end of the runway. His theater line up was as diverse as could be. All looks presumable festive, yet ranging from masculine tot seductive (although the nude corsetry had us fooled once or twice), from glittering to bold printed, from floor sweeping to cocktail. Not necessarily in that order. There was lace, there was tule, the was satin and jacquard. Not to mention we could double check on some SS2016 trends like the loose straps, the slip dresses, more is more. Now the dress code might have been festive, not flawless. Sharp cuts and tailored fits had Lanvins signature deconstructred details, undone seams, threads, frayed ends (a faux effect; real raw edges don’t hold up to wear, he cautioned) and frills all over them. Elbaz can wonder and complain question all he wants. But it seems his clothes don’t’always need a up to date theme to deliver a message. The feel good, dressed up, seventies mood was written all over them.