The XVIIIth century Musée de Cluny plays host to the first Women’s and Men’s collection designed by Bruno Sialelli for the house of Lanvin. Embodying a folkloric spirit, the Fall Winter 2019 collection roams from the Rue Saint-Honoré to Brest and far beyond, reminiscing upon cinematic and literary personas through history.
Sialelli draws upon a multitude of moods: from nautical to bucolic. Pre-Raphaelite colors depart from Lanvin ‘quattrocento’ blue into powdery shades of avocado, absinthe, banana and bergamot warmed by mahogany, navy, tomato and a blaze of ultraviolet. Inciting pure comfort and a suite of leisurely pursuits, classic shapes are spliced with sensual fabrications, as Norwegian blankets, exotic Fair Isles, swaddle inherently French garments.
Passing from myths to modern fairy-tales, graphics flit from Paul Iribe’s logo La femme et L’Enfant (1924) on stamped muslin to mosaic monogram pajama silks and delicate marguerite micro-florals. Evoking the whimsy of Cécile and Jean de Brunhoff’s Babar the Elephant books, illustrated scenes float over crew neck twinsets and foulard riding boots, whilst tufted hares and foxes frolic across transparent tulle. Sensuous and in perfect symmetry, shaped necks and contoured sleeves impart blouses or dresses with a medieval line, as the scrolling imprint of illuminated manuscripts is writ large across Silk twill. Faded Merovingian splendor is woven throughout, from gilded leather amulets and dipped thimble rings to St.George’s dragon resplendent on embroidered velvet. Voluminous kaftan gowns trail with linings inside and out, layered with bands of lace, pleated satin, and portrait print georgette.
