Olivier Lapidus introduced a trademarked rib design — here used on a stretchy bright orange top, but also to be rolled out as a print and on jewelry — which, he claimed, spells out Lanvin in Morse code. It’s a first for a house, he said, presenting it as a riposte to the flak he got for the logo pieces in the last collection.
Elsewhere the focus was on contemporary basics tricked out with nods to the house’s DNA, like a tuxedo and cropped gray tweed jacket with pagoda sleeves and buttons inscribed with the Arpège logo, “sport chic” flannel jumpsuits with a house logo from the Twenties on the button, and asymmetric ruffled dresses.
A clean-cut ruby dress with an asymmetric band on the skirt — made from a “leather satin” invented, according to Lapidus, by Cristóbal Balenciaga in the post-war period in France — served as a taster for an evening push planned for the next main ready-to-wear collection in March, he said. “For business, the demand is for dressy daywear, but 80 percent of the show will be evening and cocktail,” he added.