"Couture du jour." Bouchra Jarrar s PR man coined a catchphrase backstage before her show today, and there s a good chance it ll stick. No other designer working in couture approaches daywear with the same conviction. "It s my signature," Jarrar said. "I just think a woman looks most elegant in trousers."
It was hard to find fault with Jarrar s stitched-crease pants, cropped a couple of inches above the ankle. But she s always been obsessed with fit. This season she gave her perfect trousers an extra helping of attitude, slinging multiple belts from the waist, some with heavy-duty silver chains attached. Sculpted metal necklaces and cuffs added more edge. On top, she proposed gilets in handwoven geometric patterns, an epaulette-shoulder vest in menswear wool, or a tweed Perfecto. All unzipped and sans shirts underneath them, or with midriff-revealing draped jersey wraps. "I wanted to see skin," she said. As another option, Jarrar had fluid, silk satin pants. Their high waistline was fairly leg-elongating, but they didn t have the same kind of gravitational pull as the cropped ones. A black leather style was especially lust-inducing.
For evening—Jarrar didn t ignore the category completely—there was a pair of bias-cut trapeze gowns vaguely 1960s-ish in feeling with plunge-front V-necks and high slits, the more compelling of the two in a color-blocked combination of blush-pink crepe, black georgette, and ivory charmeuse. But like the woman said, she loves her pants; the two best outfits here made a showcase of them. The first came with a harness embroidered in ivory feathers and amber and mirrored crystals; the second with a tailored vest studded allover with iridescent beads.
