Looks Fashion News

Alain Paul was invited by the powers that be at the MAD to show his collection in the exhibition space inside the museum of decorative arts. Only the second young designer to be so honored, he enjoyed some serious perks besides the venue itself, namely access to the museum’s vast archives. The MAD’s current exhibition, “A Day in the 18th Century: Chronicle of a Private Mansion” (though July 5th) gave him a very of-the-moment theme to cross-pollinate with his own dance-centric aesthetic: this season is rife with odes to the Enlightenment, on the runway and off.

“Eighteenth century bodies were very choreographed, very postured, in the sense that they were staged, not natural,” the designer said backstage before the show. “I wanted to bring that into our world.”

He bookended his show with period inspiration. The opener: pannier shapes draped in fluid viscose crepe. The finale: a couture-level top inspired by the corps à baleine—the ancestor to the corset—now revisited with “contemporary boning” developed in collaboration with knitwear wizard Cécile Feilchenfeldt (she also lent a hand on jewelry inspired by dance costumes from the Opéra Garnier).

In between, Paul cherry-picked through the archives, riffing on period tapestry with the help of Teintures de France, whose Stratasys 3D printer reproduced part of a motif on denim—a relief that recalled richly hued three-day stubble. Floral embroideries, another period favorite, were reprised variously as blurred, mismatched prints on a pretty, sculptural white top and as a shower of blooms over a couple of long dresses with enveloped shoulders and arms (Paul described that as “a meditation on freedom and constriction”). The designer fused his flair for tailoring with fall’s ruffle-and-petticoat trend by slipping those to the front under an hourglass jacket; in a more practical vein, several jackets could be adjusted in back, a versatile flourish that seems to be popping up here for fall.

Rather than limit himself to historical pieces, Paul also seized on Tyvek—a lightweight, resistant, paper-like material made by DuPont that is widely used in conservation for garment bags and interleaving. It lent visual flourishes to some pieces, and was used as the fabric for a shirt, a tank top and a bomber.

“I wanted to say with this collection that what we’re doing today is the archive of tomorrow,” the designer said. Time will tell on that count. Meanwhile, this collection offered fans a few interesting things to consider for the here and now.