"Pretty" is not a word that has been flying freely at the collections this season, but it is just the effect that Cristina Ortiz achieved at Lanvin. Her light-handed collection wafted along like a breath of sweet-scented fresh air after all of this week s smoky nightclub ambience.
Ortiz softened her hard geometry of past seasons, but continued to draw on graphic Art Deco motifs that referenced the slightly theatrical clothes that made Jeanne Lanvin a fashion star in the 20s. In Ortiz s sophisticated hands, and with her intriguing color mixes, the effects were never old-fashioned.
A jigsaw patchwork of lozenge-shapes, embroidered in silk or beads, resembled the work of Jean Dunand, the great 20s decorative artist. Ortiz used the patchwork in African colors for a stiff A-line skirt, or as a giant "kipper" tie, knotted over a black chiffon blouse. A sweater of sheared fur was crafted in color-shaded chevrons; a chiffon skirt or blouse had a whirlpool effect of swirling panels in beige, cocoa and sky. A Barbie-pink satin blouse, worn with peach chiffon bootleg pants, was an exclamation point of color. And Ortiz introduced subtle traces of gold—as in the borders on a skinny biscuit-colored fur bomber jacket; the hip-slung belt on a chiffon dress in ice-cream tones of coffee, framboise, lemon and peach; and in the platform-heeled golden sandals, their gilded soles flashing prettily as the high-stepping mannequins stalked the runway.
