In a busy round of showrooms, we caught up with a smart Paris revival at Sonia Rykiel, the latest from Karl Lagerfeld, and a memorable presentation by the venerable house of Delvaux.
 
 

Sonia Rykiel

One brand suddenly showing fresh signs of renewed vigor is Sonia Rykiel, which presented an updated take on the founder’s classics that was both very cool and very commercial.

“Sonia used to joke that she was a fashion fraud. She was known as the queen of knits but couldn’t knit. She was a famous designer but couldn’t really sketch,” joked Adrian Gilbey, the new creative director at Sonia Rykiel.

Though she was not shy of a little self-deprecation, Rykiel went on to develop one of France’s most loved marques—one that seems poised to enjoy a real renaissance under the guidance of Gilbey, an Englishman who was Rykiel’s right-hand man in the nineties. He clearly imbibed what was best about Rykiel during that tenure, as this collection underlined.

At a private viewing, what worked best were the smart new fabrications of Sonia Rykiel’s signature looks—like the rather divine café au lait-colored slip dresses, baby doll dresses in beige plissé chiffon, or multiple stylish satin-back crepe suits, all the way to a shimmering cocktail dress with a belted back strap from a Rykiel 1995 show.

Among her many firsts, Rykiel pioneered the use of intarsia lettering in knitwear—celebrated this season with a great little black jumper reading “Film Noir”; a deep red jumper reading “Pull de Luxe”; or a pink marinière jersey that said “Coquette.”

But the heart of the matter was the knits—chic Saint Germain twinkly shirt dresses or ecru tops with single large knitted roses.

The Sonia Rykiel brand is now owned by G-III, a New York-based group that also owns Vilebrequin and Karl Lagerfeld. Plans are now afoot to eventually open two flagship stores in Paris and New York. Old friends of Sonia Rykiel, who passed eight years ago, will be charmed by this collection and happy to see her legacy in safe hands and thriving.

Karl Lagerfeld: Seamed chic

Seriously sleek seamed chic was the highlight at Karl Lagerfeld this season, where the house’s creative director, Hun Kim, riffed on the founder’s ability to sculpt and drape clothes through the artful placement of seams.

Hun’s kickoff point was a great 2001 sketch by Karl, where he drew a snazzy suit dissected by diagonal seams. Taking this somewhere new, he designed great tuxedos or smoking jackets in black gabardine paired with voluminous pants, skillfully cutting jackets with asymmetrical peak collars, adding drama.

Inevitably, Karl’s fetish white cotton shirt appeared—though updated with a matching stock. Another clever play was incorporating Karl’s signature initials, with the KL monogram appearing in bold gold buttons, along with some charming new handbags and clutches in nappa leather.

“Karl continues to inspire us in many different ways—from his own personal style and aesthetic to his archives, his sketches, and his unique initials,” insisted Hun during a tour of the collection inside the house’s elegant Saint Germain mansion on rue Saint-Guillaume.
 

Delvaux: Le Brillant meets Saul Steinberg

High marks to Delvaux for staging one of the cleverest presentations of the season so far across the four fashion capitals.

The leitmotif was the Great Exhibition of 1958 in Brussels, Delvaux’s hometown.

“It was the first great exhibition after World War II. A declaration of a new belief in the future—and the beginning of luxury consumerism,” explained Delvaux’s CEO, Jean-Marc Loubier.

The star of the house’s latest collection was Le Brillant, a classy and practical handbag that Delvaux launched in 1958. The piece was prominently displayed at the entrance above a mockup of the famed Phillips Pavilion, designed by Le Corbusier, which had inspired the bag’s shape.

Not much remains of that exhibition—except, of course, the famed futurist Atomium, a Space Age structure that has become the emblem of Brussels and a must-see for tourists in the Belgian capital. Le Brillant, of course, still endures—alongside another great discovery by Loubier: a series of fantastic panels by the legendary illustrator Saul Steinberg, best known for his New Yorker magazine covers. These panels, which originally hung in the American Pavilion at the 1958 exhibition, were relatively unknown works of art.

Presented inside 19 Place Vendôme, the panels were loaned by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and offered an immigrant’s gaze of America, portraying a fascinating discovery of a new land. One can only wish that the same spirit of openness returns to the U.S.

In another clever twist, images from Delvaux’s latest ad campaign were cut out life-size onto mirrored walls. This allowed visitors to interact with the whole scene—seeing themselves carrying both new and archival versions of Le Brillant around the showroom at Place Vendôme. From a great beige version by Jean Colonna to an excellent new Le Brillant made of hand-stitched D monograms.

Saul Steinberg would have been proud.