Paule Ka (Q1690)
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| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Paule Ka |
No description defined |
Statements
A small office on the upper floor of the Paule Ka HQ was the setting for this Pre-Fall walk-through. There, two recent arrivals to the four-person design studio offered some insight on the collection with its nuanced Russian flavor. The dress codes of Moscow, the tradition of the Bolshoi Ballet, and a romanticized take on Siberia informed this polished proposal, which spanned the usual Paule Ka spectrum of executive to evening attire.There was, however, a noticeable improvement in the mixing of materials and the matching of style. The skirts in ivory openwork on tulle looked like cozy lace; the jacket and pants in scalloped gold jacquard looked tastefully decadent. The quality of the faux fur coats, a shaved shearling Perfecto, and the button-front leather skirt came across, which was a good sign; as was the more sophisticated approach to full-length gowns.Whether or not women have been aware of the fluctuating design direction, they will likely be pleased to find miniskirt looks that speak to them—in tweed and paired with an oversize sweater and knee-high boots, for instance. What this latest iteration lacks in an au courant attitude, it makes up for in mature style. Apparently, CEO Xavier Marie still intends to hire a creative lead; but in the meantime, and for the first time in a while, things make sense.
24 January 2019
Last night, the Paule Ka flagship on Rue Saint-Honoré was bathed in pink lighting diffused by disco balls. Staged throughout the store were 30 party dresses created to celebrate the Parisian brand’s 30th anniversary. Founder Serge Cajfinger, who has returned to oversee the design following a three-year hiatus, appeared in good spirits. “Disco is disco,” he said, looking towards the one-shouldered LBDs, lustrous silver and gold numbers, and a dress fronted with a giant red heart. The throwback vibe was not at all unsubtle. “I am always looking ahead while referencing the past because beautiful things have happened in the past,” he added, smiling.One day earlier, in a quieter moment from the brand’s showroom, Cajfinger suggested that 30 is also when a woman is at her peak in terms of beauty and insouciance (this reviewer was suddenly made aware of her decline). In this spirit, he wanted the dresses to be seductive and fun, playing up ’80s chic and showing off flawless bodies. One hot pink ruffled dress conjured Marilyn Monroe inGentlemen Prefer Blondes, while a barely-there bandeau and miniskirt nodded to a similar look worn by Gisele Bündchen back in 1998 when she modeled in a Paule Ka show. “She was 17 years old, and she was fabulous,” he remembers. Today, Karolina Kurkova will appear in the campaign (she’s 34).While the dresses primarily make for a fun distraction while the brand searches for a new artistic director (majority shareholder Xavier Marie will make the decision), the collections from Saint Laurent and Celine could be used to justify the relevance of this offering (whether what those maisons are doing constitutes relevance is another story). Among the most interesting looks was a white tuxedo pant with a bow at the waist paired with a sleeveless bolero jacket. The black angular organza sheath that currently exposes a breast could be considered the most wearable, assuming it comes with a lining. Cajfinger pointed out the option of pasties, an advancement since the 1980s.
1 October 2018
Last September, as part of new majority owner Xavier Marie’s plans for Paule Ka, it was announced that founder Serge Cajfinger would be returning to the brand after a three-year absence. Go figure, he was absent from the showroom visit today, apparently owing to his architectural projects in Brazil. But as vice president overseeing ready-to-wear, he had a hand in this latest collection and the casting of Caroline Trentini for the lookbook. Shot in and around the company’s offices and on-site atelier, she appears overdressed yettrèschic.Prior to Paule Ka’s 30th anniversary celebrations in September, a new artistic director will be named. In the meantime, this collection functions as a serviceable placeholder. Soft suiting and knits in ivory suggested a blank page a little too literally, even if they looked fresh and finely constructed. According to a brand spokesperson, the other key message consisted of juxtaposing high and low lengths, i.e., a black minidress with a floor-sweeping cape. On the final day of Paris Fashion Week this felt too uninspired to merit a walk-through.The good news is that existing Paule Ka clients will still find pieces to freshen up their Fall wardrobes; the velvet suiting in ocher registered with personality, and the silver sequined pants could prove a popular item leading up to party season. But it’s unlikely this collection will attract anyone seeking something new; that’s what an artistic director or a reinstalled founder is for. We await signs from either/both.
7 March 2018
For some reason, in France there’s a no-man’s land in that potentially vast sweet spot between fast fashion and high fashion. Alithia Spuri-Zampetti is out to claim that space.When she took over the reins at Paule Ka, the American-born, Italian-raised, Central Saint Martins-trained designer set about returning the much-loved French ready-to-wear brand to its rightful place as a top contender in, for lack of a better term, contemporary upscale dressing, with an accent on separates. Having taken her first steps at Viktor & Rolf and Valentino, she most recently spent six years working for Lanvin under Alber Elbaz. Clearly, the lady has chops.“When you come from luxury, coming to a commercial ready-to-wear house is a fresh challenge,” the designer allowed backstage. “I knew the house had a couture-like heritage and an atelier, and I realized there was a huge place to discover in the Paule Ka space. I wanted to bring the brand home and focus on it from the inside.”Staging her presentation in the InterContinental Paris Le Grand hotel’s landmark, statue-lined Opera ballroom was a fitting way of saying that her focus is squarely on Paris fashion, both in terms of what it used to be, and what it is now. “If anyone in the world dresses up, it’s a Frenchwoman,” said Spuri-Zampetti. She started by zeroing in on her new hometown, thoughtfully considering high notes in French fashion history—the crinoline, the bustier dress, the lavishness of Napoleon III, the Année Folles, lingerie now recast into day-to-night looks for a younger, forward-looking clientele.A workhorse of a white dress with a twist detail in front will please this house’s fans, as will the flared sleeveless dress with boning at the waist. Frenchwomen are known for their way with a scarf, too, so that accessory got amped up on dresses, suits, and a swing coat that looked both convincingly Parisian and easy to wear. Further along, the looks got a little busier and a lot more structured, but Spuri-Zampetti delivered dresses that ticked all the season’s trends: rich jewel tones tinged with metallics on black lace, shimmery lace on nude backgrounds, sequins that were anything but prissy, lamé and tufts of fringe flashing with silver tube beads on dresses that clearly were ready to party (ditto the silver and copper mirror leather accessories).“I love the idea of putting lots of colors and contrasts together,” said Spuri-Zampetti. “Mixing things up is one of the reasons Paris teaches the world how to dress.
” It will be interesting to see how all these options play out.
28 February 2017
Anecdotally, most Parisians would agree that women here no longer dress up during the day as they once did. Alithia Spuri-Zampetti thinks this presents a significant opportunity forPaule Ka, which has espoused a polished vision of Parisian women from its start. With Jane Birkin’s iconic style as her polestar, the creative director assembled a lineup of looks that remain faithful to the brand’s contemporary feminine codes. She knew, for instance, that no collection could be considered Parisian in spirit without such essentials as a white suit and duffle coat, which she showed in brushed astrakhan-effect camel and crimson, as well as several updated versions of the “three-hole dress” (a reference to the construction of a sleeveless work dress with its neck and two armholes). On one, she laid panels of Prince of Wales check diagonally to achieve a clever bias-cut effect; another in black alludes to the Paule Ka bow as a minimalist trompe l’oeil waist detail in white. For such a serviceable style, she devised new points of interest.Where Spuri-Zampetti really proved that she thinks resourcefully was at the level of embellishment. Whether you are attracted to them or not, all those flower placements—in striated metallic on a gray sweatshirt or in lacquered red on an evening gown—resulted from cutting out elaborate jacquards and fixing them to a base of mousseline, thus achieving the same impact as embroidery for a lot less cost. No doubt this is just the beginning of the hybrid appliqué, born from couture and contemporary worlds. Which essentially, is what today’s Parisian spirit must be about.
19 January 2017
A cliff-like perch within the grand greenhouse of the Jardin des Plantes afforded a panoramic view of Alithia Spuri-Zampetti’s latest collection forPaule Ka—and what a confident, vibrant, enticing vision it was. In just over a year, this former head designer of womenswear atLanvinhas breathed new life into a go-to Paris label that had been suffering from a prolonged case of monotony. This season, each look—some on models, many more on invisible molded forms—emerged from the lush tropical scene like an indigenous species. A raw-edged floral jacquard was tacked with delicate hand-cut petals. The designer likened the gradient hand-dyed draped gowns to exotic birds, noting how their watery hues corresponded to the pond above which they were stationed.Much of the collection was inspired by Japan, where Spuri-Zampetti traveled this summer, fulfilling a longtime dream. Rather than fetishizing the kimono, judo uniforms, or origami, she drew from these ideas—the construction of a sleeve, a wraparound waist, engineered striped pleating—and parlayed them onto feminine silhouettes that were familiar to the brand. Streamlined suiting was often distinguished by waist cinching that hybridized a judo belt and the beloved Paule Ka bow. If this masculine influence suggested a departure, Spuri-Zampetti said she was pleasantly surprised to learn that house founder Serge Cajfinger’s first collections over 30 years ago consisted of reworked blazers and tailoring. The best discovery, however, was the group of dresses in which she grafted sporty knitwear tops with fluid or bell skirts. The bronze ones under the fig trees really shone.
27 September 2016
Alithia Spuri-Zampetti decided to give the signaturePaule Kabow a bit of a breather this season, having maxed out its permutations with the Fall collection. Instead, she opted to expand the horizons of a safari theme, repositioning it with a cosmopolitan mentality rather than the obvious African bent. Mostly this meant exploring the potential of cotton, from the starchy poplin trench in the brand’s defining trapeze silhouette to a softer cotton-viscose knit top and skirt that approximated broderie anglaise. The creative director’s fabric research with factories in Como, Italy, yielded a dark denim jacquard that puckered in a uniquely pleasing way, while a faint Lurex palm pattern brought just enough city shimmer to a linen safari jacket. Another boon: embellished flats and fringed heels, newly made in Italy.Spuri-Zampetti has good instinct for injecting Paule Ka’s throwback femininity with rich, tonal colors and various interpretations of tailleur and flou; see: the fitted tuxedo blazers in ivory or navy, and the off-the-shoulder gown in dusty rose, which was gracefully draped from a single piece of fabric. Both demonstrated how the brand benefits from the skills she refined at Lanvin, just as she benefits from the brand’s in-house atelier. If the loudness of the tiger stripe, oversize floral, and leopard-meets-lipstick splotch patterns didn’t jibe with the all-white looks—a grouping that she spun as a nascent bridal offering—the collection’s balance could be found in the sleek carrot pants and black dress featuring a panel of ivory satin funneling from shoulder to ground. They revisited the bow without making it the main attraction.
28 June 2016
If you hadn’t given much thought toPaule Kabefore—the label has long espoused a watered-down Parisian chic—now’s the time to reconsider. There’s a new creative director, Alithia Spuri-Zampetti; she was recruited fromLanvin, where she spent six years underAlber Elbaz, most recently as head designer in charge of womenswear. One maison’s loss is another’s gain. For her official debut (Pre-Fall was her warm-up), a workshop wonderland was staged within a dimmed gallery space—think: walls of paper patterns, bust forms suspended from the ceiling, oversize door frames, and models positioned like mannequins. This atelier vivant—two dressmakers were assembling a double duchesse satin dress on a very still model—was Spuri-Zampetti’s way of re-creating the thrill she felt upon discovering the brand’s in-house workshop, located in the center of Paris on Rue Saint-Honoré.She conceived the collection as five themes. “Playing with volumes” permitted her to reimagine Paule Ka’s key ’50s and ’60s couture-inspired silhouettes in a strict scheme of saturated hues. “Graphic lines” served as an exercise in precision tailoring such that printed borders appeared impressively aligned. With “couture bows,” she redesigned Paule Ka’s signature motif, ditching the froufrou for a more figurative shape, which appeared encrusted and inset into necklines and draped waistlines. The “trompe l’oeil” grouping featured a scanned, tinted print produced from layers of pleated Chantilly lace, as well as an embroidery print, which was then reembroidered. Sleek accessories completed the offering. All told, Spuri-Zampetti sharpened Paule Ka’s ladylike image by settling on a neo–Audrey Hepburnideal. The challenge now will be communicating her vision beyond this stylized setting. She’s got the sensitivity and the skills.
8 March 2016
If thisPaule Kacollection feels ever so slightly different than past offerings, that’s because the creative direction is now being overseen by Alithia Spuri-Zampetti, aCentral Saint Martinsgrad who most recently assistedAlber ElbazatLanvin. Judging from a showroom visit, she has arrived at the polished Parisian label with ideas aplenty. But since the images here represent just a small slice of what she presented to press and buyers, we’ll share similarly abridged impressions: For starters, the clothes conform less to the 1950s/’60s total look sensibility that became a Paule Ka signature. Now, from a lantern-sleeved sheath to a smoking-and-shorts suit, Spuri-Zampetti’s position on individual style is open and accommodating. Not to mention more animated. She’s incorporated myriad illusion effects, showing Paule Ka’s signature bow as flattened encrustations and using transparent décolleté panels for neckline novelty. She possesses a keen sense of color—no surprise there—favoring vivid shades of carnation and fuchsia. Both appear liberally in tandem, as stand-alone statements, and as flashes of lining. Her stance on fit is feminine, so much so that she added the smallest layer of padding to the hips of the classic 9-to-5 Paule Ka dress, creating the effect of a softened wasp waist.On several occasions, Spuri-Zampetti raised the idea of “hanger appeal,” as in the clothes must seduce at first sight in a retail environment—not just on social media. The Chantilly lace print does this in an obvious sense, but so do the double-face coats (jersey bonded to leather) and lingerie underpinnings that privilege back and front equally. The ruffled brim on a baseball cap, meanwhile, might prove bait to lure a new, cooler clientele. Once they’re in, they’ll find enough reason to stay.
26 January 2016