Only when prodded did Alexandre Vauthier reveal that Beyoncé had given him the black and pink "Surfboard" sweatshirt he was wearing. Then he couldn t immediately remember who wore one of his couture dresses to the Grammys (it was Rihanna). For his ready-to-wear collection, he wanted only one model to be photographed in his fourteen key looks: Hana Jirickova. All of which confirms that glamorous women populate Vauthier s world, and you can see how their glamorous lives influence his designs. Often, he recasts the themes and technical details from couture, such as the animal-print shirtdress woven with gold lamé and the braided leather bustier (for some, it s dress-length). Basic black leather jeans and silky T-shirts seemed, at least in part, to function as necessary entry points for retailers. And the designer s signatures—a slim bar of gold hardware running up the cuff of a white poplin shirt, and a seam that traces down the spine of a black roll-neck sweater—effectively get you wanting pieces you already have in multiples. This is not a manipulative move; rather, Vauthier is convinced that he can do them better. And when you try on his impeccably tailored smoking or compare the fox-trimmed ski jacket to what s out there, you just might agree that he has a point.
