It was bow ties, butterflies, and daisies in the dunes for Alexis Mabille. Paris master of contemporary camp put on his show in the Oratoire du Louvre, a cool, stone Protestant temple on rue Saint-Honoré. Sexy, scantily clad men aren t the usual entertainment at the Oratoire, and a few eyebrows were raised about staging a fashion show in a church, but this designer isn t one to stand on ceremony.
Until now, Mabille has spent most of his design time decorating the classics—embellishing dressing-gown jackets in kimono-pattern silks, for example, and generally going to town with his signature bow ties—but he took a desert-survival hike for his Spring Mirage collection. Somewhere in the sand he found a new slouch, easy volumes, and a certain laid-back sporty chic.
Jean jackets in sandy tones with sun-ray yokes looked like Midnight Cowboy on a weekend in Palm Springs, and the combi-short in tan boiled-cotton jersey with mechanic s overall zips had true grit. Sleeves, back yokes, and waists unzipped for a wear-it-your-way rusty linen tunic, gold-dusted heavy silk parka, biker tux, and poncho blouson in quilted jersey.
A desert trip isn t without its perils for Mabille. He s a fanciful sort, and a Lawrence of Arabia inspiration could ve easily turned into a costume parade. As it was, crochet daisies inspired by something from his grandmother s attic and scattered over jackets and mixed with wood rosary beads for thick, twisted voodoo cuffs erred too far on the fey side. Still, his post-hippie band of sun-kissed wanderers was a seductive lot.
