In a bit of metatheater, Julie de Libran welcomed guests to her home deep in the Left Bank, transforming her living room into a runway (and her primary bedroom into a cabin) to present what she called a “non-linear mix” of one-off and limited-run looks. Asked to choose just one word to describe the collection, she offered a very French reply: déshabillé.
“They’re coming from the bedroom and receiving at home,” the designer explained. “They need to make an entrance. I think it comes from all of the films and photographs that are always running through my mind.”
Indeed, the first looks—slip dresses in dévoré and lamé velvet, cut on the bias—channeled the 1930s by way of the ’90s, with a simplicity that suits this moment. From there, she segued into haute daywear, for example with a sharply cut jacket in wide-wale teal corduroy, a double-breasted midnight blue pinstripe jacket (shown with feathers peeking out from underneath), or a jacket and miniskirt in ivory tweed. That last piece wasn’t the only nod to one of the grandest dames in town, but it hit the mark.
By her own admission, cocktail hour is the designer’s home base, and some of the evening looks here will likely connect. A leopard jacquard bustier gown with marabou trim comes to mind. A crisply tailored black jacket with mesh skirt nodded to the naked dressing trend while keeping things decent. Among the one of a kind numbers was a one-shouldered, fully embroidered poncho dress that checked the “negligee for entertaining at home” box.
Though it occupies a very rarified world, this collection had enough compelling options—at a fraction of the prices demanded at the city’s biggest houses—that it will probably keep the tiny atelier inside the designer’s shop of the Rue de Luynes seeing la vie en rose.
