Making his debut as design director of Schiaparelli after years of working behind the scenes in various couture studios, Bertrand Guyon certainly did his homework and laid bare his enthusiasm for the house that Elsa built.
During a preview, he noted references that stretched across a trio of mood boards: the Paris theater scene in the Thirties; the Italian founder in her minimalist mode, daring to wear culottes on the streets of London; and then Leigh Bowery, the bulging, sparkling torchbearer for nightclub outlandishness decades after Schiaparelli had hung up her scissors.
“I wanted to try to think what Schiaparelli would do if she were still alive, and so I read a lot on her life, to understand her personality,” Guyon said, lauding her cosmopolitan nature. “It’s a balance between simplicity and extravagance.”
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Guyon didn’t always get this balance right, employing too many stiff, lacquered brocades, some gussied up further with bullion embroideries as thick as stucco. At the other extreme was the dead-simple Grecian column that closed the show, shocking pink chiffon drifting off the shoulders and sweeping the painted parquet runway.
While the collection was opulent and showed a steady hand at work, Guyon seemed more at ease with eveningwear, which was often beguiling.
To be sure, this seasoned talent knows his way around an atelier, having spent the last seven years at Valentino, helping shape the ready-to-wear and couture collections of the Roman house’s cocreative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, who took in the spectacle before rushing back to Rome for their itinerant couture show on Thursday. He turned his hand to everything from gossamer biker jackets and quilted opera coats to mohair midiskirts and capes.
Evident, too, was his long experience as the right hand of Christian Lacroix, one of couture’s most gifted practitioners, brought back for a one-off Schiaparelli tribute in 2013 when Diego Della Valle woke up the house from its 60 years of slumber. Guyon shares Lacroix’s flair for diverse decoration, from feathery, watercolor brushstrokes on gossamer fabrics to laser-cut Plexiglas clattering like jewels on a tulle cardigan and matching skirt. The patchwork furs, tufts of goat hair and fox jutting out of mink were exceptional and pointed to a modernity lacking in some of the exits.
The collection worked best when Guyon etched the surrealist legacy in subtle and humorous ways: braiding the long strands of a goat hair vest along the spine, and tacking quirky brooches — a keyhole, a pierced heart, a telephone dial — to the hip of tuxedo pants or the sleeve of a crocodile T-shirt. The accessories were striking, including a hand-shaped evening compact and chunky T-strap shoes with shocking pink heels.
“I’m so proud of him. I think he did a great job, and caught the spirit of Schiaparelli,” Piccioli said after the show, rushing backstage with Chiuri, who concurred: “I think he did a great job, and with the right direction, in my opinion.”
Guyon will also be responsible for forthcoming high-end ready-to-wear collections that Schiaparelli dubs “prêt-à-couture.”