Lanvin - Spring 2011 - Review

Each season Lucas Ossendrijver creates incredibly luxurious and relaxed pieces for the house of Lanvin, and for spring 2010 Mr. Ossendrijver remains on the same sophisticated course. Though he does tweak his vision to incorporate a few trends, much to my disappointment, he also gave the usual casual garments new life through a Japanese/circus inspiration.

Let us start with the trends. The good and the bad. The good: double-breasted blazers. Almost nobody can do an unconstructed double-breasted blazer like Lanvin. Refined, yet casual enough to go from workday to cocktails and not feel overdressed. With sandals, it's the perfect summertime wardrobe. Unfortunately, that is where the good trends end for me this season. In come the knit corsets over sheer sweaters. Reminiscent of what we say at YSL and just as awkward. Also awkward, the tight biker shorts and pants that worked at Moncler, mainly because the models were on a bike track, but also because they weren't suffocating the crotch, causing incredibly uncomfortable bulges, as they are here.

I also feel it is my duty to address the fanny packs that "graced" the runway towards the end of the show. Let's just get one thing straight: they will never look good. Ever. It doesn't matter if they're in the master accessory designer hands of Louis Vuitton of Lanvin, they still look like a bad tourist bag that belongs somewhere deep in Disney World.

Other then that, I enjoyed this collection. I found that the Japanese influence was equal parts subtle and exciting (some of the models looked like the main character from the popular manga series Naruto with their spiked up hair and head bands, but don't feel bad if you don't get that reference). In addition, though not necessarily something I would wear, I did think that the ringleader-stripes on suit jackets and trousers added flair and elongated the silhouette, another trend we saw for spring 2011 in many of the collections in Paris and Milan.

While Lanvin did fall [fashion] victim to a slew bad trends, mostly, this collection emerged as a luxe group of styles that did not sacrifice wearability for thrill and vice-versa.