If there is such a thing as a “Lemaire person,” the runway show provides a twice-yearly reminder that it’s more about individuality and wanting to look interesting and self-assured than any kind of conformity. Sure, some may wonder whether there is an advanced art to Lemaire layering, yet to hear Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran tell it, this should be the opposite of complicated. “Every time we do stylings, we try to make [them] credible, as if it’s a character in real life,” he said.
Today’s lineup of Lemaire characters seemed equipped to face real life with even more sophistication and flair—plus magnifying glass necklaces (made by the Austrian craftsman Carl Aubock), presumably to view the world in greater focus. Tran referred to this as clothes for “the intensity of living nowadays.”
From the opening look that paired an airy balloon skirt with a leather jacket, and onward through several men’s ensembles, there was a pronounced swish that propelled the models’ movements. But then the range of jacket shapes—fitted, rounded, boxy—were constructed so that silhouettes gave models a strong stature. The seating put us eye-level with bags boasting glass eyes and provided a peek at ribbed knit garters under coat layers and high boots all in pale lavender—which is to say, at turns surreal and sensual.
One influence that connected the dots as soon as Lemaire mentioned it was the dynamism of modern dance as promulgated by Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham, complete with imagined post-rehearsal outfits composed of body-skimming and looser layers. Fashion can often be described as armor; yet here it was the fluidity that proved so persuasive.
Elsewhere, typical tonal ensembles (see the café-colored denim and soft bathrobe coat) were interspersed with high-contrast pairings of black and ivory. The scarlet asymmetric shirtdresses and the flashes of deep blue—both normally outside the brand’s color spectrum—brought us someplace more… assertive?
“Yes, exactly, That’s the right word!” Lemaire said. With The Business of Fashion recently reporting that the brand surpassed €100 million ($103 million) in sales last year, the designer confirmed that they are in a position to think more boldly. “It’s great because commercial success brings confidence. It helps you to improve what you do… [which is] maybe defining a new luxury,” he said. “It’s not showing off or pretending… It’s more about feeling a better version of yourself. This is our obsession: how we can create clothes that give you this sense of empowerment and elevation.”
Which is not to suggest that the grounded aspect of Lemaire—the part that crosses over into their Uniqlo collaborations—has been abandoned. Throughout the show, a heartbeat was layered atop street drumming; our interior and exterior worlds as a cacophonous soundtrack that had Solange nodding along from the front row. When Lemaire and Tran emerged, the curves of her baby bump were suitably accentuated in a chocolate brown men’s shirt and knit skirt with a wrap detail. The surest testament to Lemaire for real life.
