Is Lemaire the opposite of Louis Vuitton? While the latter’s western inspiration was unmissable, even in-your-face at its mega show on Tuesday night, the next morning design duo Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran paraded dark shirts with fancy embroidered collars, bolo ties that were abstracted versions of ring-on-chain jewelry and hand-drawn thistle prints dotted on skirts and tops.
“We like to make references and not be too literal,” Lemaire said backstage, noting that their inspiration wasn’t western per se, but more folk. “So it could be a bit Mexican, or New Mexico. There’s actually some elements inspired by Eastern European culture.”
Ballet, aviation and sleepwear were other elements that Lemaire and Tran blurred into their introverted brand of quiet luxury. The clothes were generously proportioned and expertly layered in their cult colors, like lichen, clotted cream and an array of burnt-toast browns.
In a season of soft tailoring, they found multiple sweet spots with their mannish suit jackets; pajama-like loose pants, the cuffs rolled up by hand, and all manner of handsome outerwear, from beefy aviator shearlings and waxed cotton raincoats to bathrobe-easy woolen top coats, like the ones the entire PR Consulting staff wore, plus a healthy number of guests.
To a soundtrack of Serge Gainsbourg instrumentals, models strolled around a circular, raised catwalk, some offering backward glances if he or she spotted a cameraman in a corner.
The show was staged at Lemaire’s new headquarters on the Place de Vosges, the after show briefing with journalists held in the atelier upstairs. “We do believe that the process defines the results,” Lemaire said.
Indeed, their calm, tidy and hushed workspace — which could double as a fabulous spa — yielded a collection that, while carefully calibrated, telegraphed an easy, relaxed chic.
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