After a promising first show last season, Laurence André’s new collection was eagerly awaited, and the least we can say is that she confirms her talent and love of original materials for her Spring Summer 2011 couture collection.
For her first “off” show accredited by the Fédération Française de Couture, the young designer – a former architect – presents us with the wardrobe of a modern woman who doesn’t like conventions and has a very assertive style that, far from denying her femininity, exacerbates it in all simplicity and seduction.
Her background as an architect is reflected in her taste for shapes and structures, which sublimate femininity in original, even architectural cuts, using unusual materials for this kind of exercise. For Spring/Summer 2011, linen and velvet are the obvious choice for an original, perfectly mastered collection with a strong emphasis on volume.
Set to music by DJINGER Twiggy, Laurence André plunges us into her dreamlike world, sometimes reminiscent of Pan’s Labyrinth, in which she lets her creativity run wild. Tails, jumpsuits, bodysuits and winged dresses follow one another in graphic silhouettes, sometimes accompanied by a delicate hood and accessories – shoes and jewelry – by Walter Steiger.
As a last line of defense against the winter chill, Laurence André has chosen black velvet for silhouettes that reveal a seductive woman who loves unique pieces that fit her shape perfectly. Spectacular tails, shorts, an origami-shouldered bodysuit and a short, halterneck dress dress up an uncomplicated woman who doesn’t reveal herself completely, cleverly hidden from view under a thin hood.
Laurence André knows how to work with linen like no one else, using fabrics from the Linen Dream Lab, a space for experimentation in textile and technical innovations using linen fibers. The designer offers us her famous origami pieces, which she masters to perfection, perfectly following the contours of the woman who wears them. Jumpsuits, collared bodysuits and more technical pieces are all examples of the expertise of the designer and her workshops.
White and black double-sided stretch, linen is also devoured on technical pieces, highly elaborate in the designer’s imagination. This majestic “winged” dress in black zebra devoré linen, a major piece in the collection, is a veritable technical gem. As for the “origami” jacket in white panther devoré linen, it dazzles us with its simplicity mingled with technique and elegance, echoing the shorts in the same material, a veritable ode to softness.
Far from confining herself to linen and velvet, Laurence André also favors metal-effect coated knits for highly geometric pieces with a more-than-spectacular effect. The bride in a purple train jumpsuit reveals her animal side in a fabric reminiscent of multicolored reptile skin.
Laurence André’s second fashion show was a real success. The young designer asserts her stylistic identity in this Spring Summer 2011 collection, a far cry from convention, with a definitively contemporary, creative and inspired style. Each new season is an opportunity for Laurence André to give us a key to her personality, her sense of volume and structure at the service of her feminine sensibility. The presentation text advises us to create with the spirit so that tomorrow will bear fruit. Her tomorrows promise the blossoming of a true talent, a showcase for the magic she distills in each of her models, for our greatest pleasure.
Maie-Odile Radom
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