Half of this collection was crafted from upcycled deadstock. And the rest was made from certified recycled fabrics and other materials. Which is important and good. However the really great thing about Marine Serre is that her environmental practice, while foundational, is only the starting point. This former LVMH Prize winner has built on that foundation to shape a distinctly designed world complete with her own codes and signatures. It’s fun, powerful and sexy—and she added more layers to it with this collection.
Held in the hallowed Salle Wagram, this show was very nearly standing room only. Apart from fashion’s doddery professional chaperones who were sidelined onto two benches (and we were grateful for them), the immigration queue-style runway was lined on its back and forth route by excited youth behind the same type of metal fencing used to corral crowds at concerts. Said Serre: “They could reach and touch the models if they wanted.” The young onlookers were more respectful than that (and more interested in phone footage than physical contact) but as the banging tunes and Clair de Lune—mixed by Pierre Rousseau— kicked in, they were clearly having a blast. Serre said the party that would start immediately after the show would go on late.
“I wanted to bring some dance to the show experience,” she said: “it is really a show about music.” To reflect that her cast featured many musicians, some of whom were scheduled to perform later. They included Teyana Taylor, Miguel, Noah Cyrus, Brooke Candy, Anetha, and more. Exciting as that was, I have to confess being more interested in the wearables than the hearables. Serre duly delivered several headlining innovations.
These included new combinations of existing materials in the Serre catalogue: the opening section saw her combine upcycled T-shirts and foulards for the first time to make dresses that clung to and wreathed the body. A brief sortie into upcycled military surplus, complete with Moon Boob warrior dress, was followed by two new sources of fabrication that wittily took everyday aspects of domesticity and refashioned them for sybarites and creatures of the night. Deadstock beach towels and table cloth material were crafted into subversively quaint collages; the liberal use of labrador and kitten prints on this counterculture cast was especially endearing. Upcycled crochet materials added more subversively grand-mère goodness before a foray into patched popcorn spandex jacquard augured a shift into Serre’s first ever deadstock (rather than recycled) denim pieces. These, she said, will be much much more affordable than her hitherto all recycled denim pieces thanks to the reduced cost of reprocessing. There was one particularly strong dress spun from a diagonal cascade of layered leg panels.
Silver leather, crafty knits, hibiscus print jersey, tailoring in black moon jacquard and drapey dresses in black jersey completed this set-list of Serre hits both newly old and oldly new. “Et voila,” she said, before heading into the thick of her party and her people.
