The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
PARIS, France — Lucas Ossendrijver's Lanvin has made leaps and bounds since he sent foppish, romantic boys out in bow ties and washed silk suits in 2006. Today, it's become an exercise in opposites: a way to coax the subtle and the unexpected out of menswear that is both corporate and classic as well as technically innovative.
Spring 2019 dealt with this idea in a most literal way. “It’s about contrasts,” said Ossendrijver, “hard and soft, flat and 3D, black and colour, back and front.” He applied these dualities to garments with an undone formality, creating a shifting silhouette where anoraks unzipped into elegant capes, shirt fronts came tacked onto jersey tee backs, and the sedate beauty of a topstitched black suit came disrupted by the pragmatism of a cargo pocket.
Hidden techniques are par for the course chez Ossendrijver and it took some in-depth explaining to reveal the way a petrol and malachite coat was entirely bonded and reversible, or the fact that he’d displaced the satin on a tailcoat and layered it with a zip-up fishing vest. Sound complicated? It was. But for all its slick urbanity and fanciful layering, the collection never lost Lucas’ light hand, and the calculated naivety his clothes offer to men still looking for new ways to dress down dressing up.
From where aspirational customers are spending to Kering’s challenges and Richemont’s fashion revival, BoF’s editor-in-chief shares key takeaways from conversations with industry insiders in London, Milan and Paris.
BoF editor-at-large Tim Blanks and Imran Amed, BoF founder and editor-in-chief, look back at the key moments of fashion month, from Seán McGirr’s debut at Alexander McQueen to Chemena Kamali’s first collection for Chloé.
Anthony Vaccarello staged a surprise show to launch a collection of gorgeously languid men’s tailoring, writes Tim Blanks.
BoF’s editors pick the best shows of the Autumn/Winter 2024 season.