EARLY SPRING REVERIE

Imaginary realms are never bounded by time and space.

Before stepping into Fall/Winter 2020, all major fashion brands have already launched their Spring/Summer 2021 collection, adding a glimpse of vitality to this generation. Founded by Jeanne LANVIN in 1889, LANVIN is still one of the most recognisable French fashion brands with over a hundred years of history. Dedicated to crafting elegantly modern pieces and exquisite accessories for men and women, the brand continues to be one of the representations of Parisian luxe.

Setting out a dialogue between the real and the imaginary, LANVIN’s creative director Bruno Sialelli explores the notion of reverie, of memories real and make-believe, of fantastical characters and invented narratives for spring 2021.

The Pre-Spring 2021 collection from LANVIN is inspired by the endless fashion reveries flashing between movies and magazines during lockdown, expressing our subconscious desire for freedom and adventure.

With models turning into an ensemble cast of heroes and heroines of an unfolding drama, their essence is captured in delicate pieces imbued with a quintessential Frenchness – blouses, scarves, flowy long dresses, eased suiting, all painted in a palette of sun-bleached neutrals and pastels.

Through the use of accessories: gloves, shoes, turban hats, and sunglasses, the collection refers to the glamour of interwar couture and the fantasy of fashion proposed by cinema. The designs make use of natural materials such as silk, wool, cotton, cashmere, and leather, offering luxury with inherent value, quality and longevity.

Living the fantasy, the Pre-Spring 2021 collection from LANVIN anchors the imagination.

The Pre-Spring 2021 collection also echoes within LANVIN’s traditional history. LANVIN’s emblem, designed in 1923 by Paul Iribe, inscribes rounded buttons like the bottle of the 1927 LANVIN parfum Arpège, with LANVIN blue as a key shade.

Paying tributes to LANVIN’s founder Jeanne LANVIN and designer Armand-Albert Rateau, the modernist Pencil Box handbag is re-launched with sleek lines and a contrasting arched feline handle. The iconic pillowy Sugar Bag from LANVIN mid-2000s is also revived in the Pre-Spring 2021 collection.

Jewellery underscores the house of LANVIN. The ‘Arpege’ line, inspired by the fragrance’s flaçon and stopper, is escalated with rose and daisy petalshaped gemstones – Marguerite, which means daisy flower in French and is also the name of Jeanne LANVIN’s daughter. Nature is sublimated into parures of cascading cast-metal petals.

Jeanne LANVIN, founder of LANVIN, values collaboration across industries. Evoking the 1920s, LANVIN teamed up with the French artist Romain de Tirtoff, also known as Erté, whose work was considered a synonym of aesthetics at that time. Within the collection, his lavish art deco designs become elegant prints sprinkled throughout, from womenswear to the Pencil Box handbag, illustrating a theatre of the absurd and revealing human subconscious desires.

The collection comes to life at the Palais Idéal in Lyon, southern France, built by a French postman Ferdinand Cheval over 33 years. This fantastic medieval castle has become, over time, a place of gathering and pilgrimage for famous artists such as André Breton, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst.

Ferdinand Cheval’s work is commemorated in an essay by Anaïs Nin, a major figure in art and literature. Living the fantasy, the Pre-Spring 2021 collection from LANVIN anchors the imagination, crafting artistic pieces for fashion reveries.