Dominique Maitre/WWD
“They are like my debutantes,” said Julie de Libran of her cast of muses, many of them younger family friends taking their first turn on a runway. “They are my inspiration: girls, women who are active, that are doing things in the world, that are passionate.”
Matching that always on-the-go attitude was a wardrobe that offered plenty of solutions to follow them from day to night, with layering as a throughline. Last season’s shine was still on, owing to the designer’s belief that it “gives a smile on your face, creates a glow,” by turning any moment into one of fun and celebration.
“It’s an entrance,” she said, and indeed it was. Opening the show were a trio of gowns that were classic at first glance but turned out to be brassieres and leggings layered with draped dresses in what de Libran described as her “Charles James kind of inspiration.”
The lineup that followed was a smorgasbord of items that toed the line between classic and cool-girl garb. Individually charming, they also made for coherent characters that felt of the now.
In no particular order: a lace A-line dress with a deep V-neck held shut by a bejeweled clasp; a boxy jacket paired with a miniskirt; de Libran’s terrific smoking jackets, one layered over a bejeweled bandeau and a see-through skirt; a long sequined cardigan coat worn as a dress; dresses with long fringes that shimmered and shook with every step. One cape dress was cut from a knit sequin fabric that looked like armor but fell like a sweater on the body.
Woven into her season were also new developments, like smart white shirts — with bejeweled buttons at the cuff, of course; sequined boxer shorts and tailored jumpsuits; yoga-inflected activewear pieces, and swimwear — although most had bejeweled elements that made them more poolside glamour than what you’d jump into the water wearing. Like the rest of her line, they will be offered in limited runs.
For de Libran, showing on a younger generation, one with such a strong appetite for fashion, “shows the passion that we have and what we are doing,” she said. “For the new generation, it’s their time to enjoy.”
From the elated look on the models’ faces to the enthusiastic clapping in the room, they certainly did — the moment but also the clothes.
