Lanvin Woman SS16

"I started to work on Lanvin's new photo exhibition at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie few months ago. The exhibition is titled, MANIFESTO, which derives from the Latin for hands ('mani') and truth ('festus'). I was deeply moved by these two powerful words. I felt this urgency to return to the truth, the purity and the essence of my work as a designer. In preparing for this exhibition, I went through thousands of toiles pictures from my past work at Lanvin. Toiles are the first fitting prototypes where the dream starts to become a reality... the starting point of a long design process. Toiles show the handwork and the human touch on the body, the truth of our métier - the intuition, the emotion and the dream. This was my starting point of the collection. I wanted to rediscover the beauty and the importance of the design process more than just perfectly finished clothes on the runway.

But today's reality is that we also live in a world of extreme rapidity with endless collections viewed on mobile phone screens in just few clicks. We can simply click to delete and move on to the next image in just few seconds.  Clothes have to "scream" on the screen to hold the viewer's attention.  What is more important today, how it looks on the photo or how it feels on the body? I felt urged to explore this two extreme reality in fashion today." Alber Elbaz Design process. In an ode to the emotion of the clothes-making process and handcrafted 3D design, Alber takes us into his Paris atelier, giving the impression of attending a fitting, of being part of the process. Pieces are left unfinished, traces of the human hand remain: basting stitches with hanging threads, raw edge with exposed calico fabric as a part of the finished garments. The group is intentionally in black and white to emphasize the purity of the design, to show all the details, and the linear silhouettes as modern daywear for today's women. A crisp white shirt and a black pants opens the show as a symbol of returning to the most essential part of women's wardrobe.

"Body" dresses.  Here the designer reflects on the "sexy" dresses - his is a democratic version that all women can wear. He creates flesh-colored body corsets on to which he "installs" the dress, a poetic act of drapery which creates the illusion of an extreme décolleté or an open back - suggesting a hint of seduction and eroticism. Alber questions the red-carpet phenomenon of dress versus flesh: "I'm looking at the red carpet and there are more bodies than dresses. Are body the new dress? What is our role as a designer? To unveil the body or to cover the body?"

Extreme Feminity. Celebrating the ultra feminity in all forms and shapes in explosion of colors and satin bow decorations. Extreme ruffles in brilliant duchess satins in violet and in sky blue with seductive illusion lace covering the back... Emerald green and hot orange linear dresses with multi-seams decorated with saccharine colored satin bows with crystal heart buckles. The bows, the ultimate symbol of femininity, continue to grace the sharply tailored black gabardine tuxedo jacket with abbreviated sky blue duchess satin mini skirt. Exploding colors of hand embroidered sequin ensembles on chiffon, tulle, satin and cotton calico fabrics are left intentionally exposed to give the impression of being unfinished... all layered together with clashing colors. A surprise entry of six black feminine "swan" dresses in the most classic feminine fabrics... guipure lace, Chantilly lace, duchess satin, and taffetas, all worn with new draped black ballerinas. Here, Alber returns again to explore the 3D body and the clothes-making process.

Lanvin "Iconic". A moment of total fashion. Alber questions the role of the designer: the evolution from couturier to creative director and ultimately "image-maker". "We have to produce an image that creates buzz and sells bags, shoes, perfume and accessories. It's not always about the body but it's about the photo, the rapidity, the technology..." Interweaving heritage, technology and modernity, the designer takes familiar silhouettes, and transforms them, adding print, texture and embroidery, building up the 3D volume. Parkas, t-shirts and sweatshirts explode with fun and energetic exclusive prints, on jacquards, silk lame to silk crêpe, and codes - everything from Lanvin's iconic mother-and-daughter logo by Paul Iribe to the Arpège perfume bottles, strings of pearls to stiletto heels, the Lanvin Happy handbag to the brand's fabled Faubourg-Saint-Honoré address.