“Because moving forward is above all about following your own path, without fearing detours or even returns. This season, make way for a modernity imbued with memory, references and freedom. “
Attending a Marithé et François Girbaud fashion show is an unparalleled experience, as the designer couple are so unusual. Honking horns in the background as we waited for the show to begin put us right in the mood. On the theme of sprocket mechanics, the designer couple offered us a highly inspired show based on casual pieces that were rather easygoing, distinguished and at the same time very simple.
Clean lines, a variety of looks, little dresses, skirts, streetwear jackets, shorts and pants punctuate this Spring-Summer 2011 collection, in which urban style explodes in all its splendor.
Inspired by cycling, a leisure activity that has become an integral part of everyday urban life, Marithé and François Girbaud have reinvented a modern style for a new generation of urbanites with a ” nicely bicycle-like attitude “.
Driving gloves in hand, modern silhouettes imbued with memory, references and freedom follow one another, presented by models having fun on the catwalk and redefining the codes of a concerned and involved generation.
The main themes of Marithé et François Girbaud’s Spring Summer 2011 collection are defined by graphic cuts, changing volumes and even variable geometries, the return of denim and fairly neutral hues. Tube and stretch lines, gathers, rivets and laces create a line that’s as flexible as the wearer wants it to be.
The pinion motif, that bicycle gear, can be found everywhere. It discreetly adorns short, structured dresses, when it isn’t an integral part of the garment in the form of a detail. There’s a well-planned pocket or a wild hemline, or a gear-shaped cut, or a cuff variation pegged to pants: a magnet, a rivet, an elastic fastener…
The pants can be transformed at will, becoming pantacourt to reveal shoes when the bottom is folded down. They also become bags in the blink of an eye. Pants and shorts can be worn with loose straps, so as not to impede movement.
Marithé et François Girbaud revisit traditions and insignia by reappropriating collective memory. Military references and university spirit compete for the spotlight in a more personal style. On the one hand, the colors of the hunt are very present, while on the other, navy blue and polo shirts abound, but one constant: ” casual charisma with resolutely personal codes “.
The designer couple love avant-garde treatments. Denim is innovative thanks to the Wattwash™ technique, an economical laser treatment. Cotton blends, feather materials and stretch create unrestrained silhouettes.
Like the models having fun on the catwalk, fashion should be a perpetual joy, a constant breeding ground for ideas, not a graveyard. And this is what the famous designer couple demonstrate. Brilliantly so.
Marie-Odile Radom
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