Mood board: Jeanne Lanvin began her career in the early 1900s first as a milliner, then as a childrenswear designer, creating clothes for her daughter Marguerite, which were soon coveted by other wealthy parents. There was a young naiveté behind Bruno Sialelli’s sophomore collection for the Parisian maison, which was based on the time and dimension-spanning comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, that ran in the New York Herald from 1905-11. It detailed a young boy’s dream adventures, which Sialelli found paralleled not just his own childhood in the South of France, but his own fantastical interpretation of Lanvin. For S/S 2020, the designer took a deep dive into different eras and genres, in a collection brimming with comic strip and bold checkerboard prints, cocooned or draped couture silhouettes and utilitarian outerwear, nodding to the clothing sported by Capote’s ‘Swans’, ancient Egyptian embellishments and archival 60s prints.
Scene setting: Last season, Sialleli held his show at the The Musée de Cluny, which houses one of the largest collections of medieval art in the world. For spring, he showed in the Gilles Clément-designed gardens of the Quai Branly Museum. In a bid to take guests into a closed panel of their own comic strip world, Sialleli presented his show in silence, with guests tuning into a set of headphones, with excerpts from Lord of the Flies and King and the Mockingbird. Fashion has the power to confront socio-political issues (see Dior’s forest-lined show set or Marni’s upcycled jungle, both a nod our environmentally fraught era) or offer an escapist antidote (like Richard Quinn’s imagined bygone world). Even in the pouring rain, this show had the power of dreamlike transportation.
Finishing touches: There were a plethora of covetable accessories on display here, like leather shoulder bags pieced together with oversize running stitch, Sou'wester hats with floral earrings formed from graphic leather petals and camera bags in bold polka dot and stripe prints.
-
Year in review: the top 10 cars of 2024, selected by transport editor Jonathan BellWhat are our cars of the year? We’ve scoured the archives to unveil the machines that most impressed us over the past 12 months, from retro revivals to high-tech EVs
-
An Indian mud house - and more, on Sketch Design Studio's natural material wondersSketch Design Studio in Rajasthan, India does wonders with the simplest ingredients
-
Experience this Singapore apartment’s Zen-like qualities and cocooning urban havenWelcome to Singapore apartment The Rasidence, a spacious, Zen-like interior by Right Angle Studio
-
Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
-
Louis Vuitton A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Chanel A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s -
Y/Project A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Sacai A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Alexander McQueen A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women’s
