Lanvin at Paris Fashion Week. Photo: PA
WHO?: Alber Elbaz for Lanvin
IN A NUTSHELL: It felt like we'd stepped into a pretty awesome party in the middle of a sweltering day in the Jardins des Tuileries, complete with canapes, cocktails and glittering guests (more on them later). And the clothes? There were a handful of different style identities that came together in Elbaz's the vision of spring dressing. There was the avant garde working girl in slashed tailoring, there was the grecian goddess, with Madame Grès-worthy drapes and pleats, and, in a stomping crescendo, there was the goth rock chick sporting rhinestone emblazoned minidresses and the odd crucifix.
BEG, BORROW OR STEAL: We love the monochrome tailored separates that majored on bulky shoulder padding, neoprene pencil skirts and elongated tuxedo jackets.
F-ROW: Kristin Scott Thomas and Julianne Moore (aka two of our all time heroines), Jade Jagger, Rachel Zoe and Orlando Bloom - who was cheering on his wife Miranda Kerr as she sashayed down the runway.
VERDICT: There were many twists and turns to this collection making it nigh on impossible to pin down; at times it was ethereal, at others brash or androgynous. Some might put this down to the Lanvin woman is suffering an identity crisis - but it's more than this; Elbaz understands the different personas that women like to adopt when we're getting dressed. Bitch, lover, child, mother - I'm not going to quote the whole Meredith Brooks song but you get the picture. And even if the Lanvin woman is suffering an identity crisis for Spring/Summer 2012, we would do anything to get our hands on her wardrobe.