Christian Lacroix (Q2764)
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Christian Lacroix is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Christian Lacroix |
Christian Lacroix is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
1988
creative director
Editor’s note: Vogue Runway is celebrating the most wonderful time of the year by adding six magical—and newly digitized—1990s haute couture shows to our archive. Christian Lacroix’s spring 1999 collection was originally presented in Paris on January 19, 1999, in the ballroom of the Grand Hotel.“Spring ’99 was both abstract and romantic, graphic and naive. A bit like 19th-century dolls, with destructured/restructured shapes, exaggerated fake proportions, a lot of tulle, and ribbons, with a lot of special textiles and craftsmanship details.”—Christian LacroixAs Y2K approached, time seemed to compress as designers revisited the history of fashion; this was especially the case at the couture, the domain of fantasy. Christian Lacroix, an art historian who came to Paris from his native Arles with the intention of becoming a curator, seemed to have been looking closely at paintings by artists obsessed with dress when designing his spring 1999 collection. Beribboned bodices recalled those worn by the rosy-cheeked beauties depicted by François Boucher or Nicolas Lancret, and a citrus yellow and black ensemble could have walked out of a picture by James Tissot.“The bride was inspired by Neapolitansantonsin wireddrépésof satin taffetas and chiffon.” —Christian LacroixIn 1990Voguehad declared Lacroix the “king of color,” and he proved he still merited the title here with gowns in hues so saturated you could almost taste them. Some of these electrifying color combinations were only revealed when a model turned and showed the back of her dress. This was 360-degree romance, and it carried on to the final look, a draped dress that could have been copied from a Zurbarán painting—or one of the angels guarding the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Neapolitan Baroque crèche.Audrey Marnay in Christian Lacroix couture.Photographed by Arthur Elgort,Vogue,March 1999
24 December 2021
Editor’s note: Vogue Runway is celebrating “the most wonderful time of the year” by adding six magical—and newly digitized—1990s haute couture shows to our archive. Christian Lacroix’s spring 1994 collection was originally presented on January 16, 1996, at the Hotel Intercontinental in Paris.“Spring ’94 was a mix and match of French Revolution and Directoire styles with 1940 fashions—my two favorite periods in costume history—in ’90s proportions.” —Christian Lacroix“Today, femininity is a weapon; it’s a force.” So said Christian Lacroix about his spring 1994 show toVogue. Despite a few borrowed-from-the-boys nautical elements, and the casting of the androgynous and shaved-head model Eve Salvail, the collection was anything but hard-edged. In fact, it served as a brief respite from calamity. An earthquake in Los Angeles and an attack on the figure skater Nancy Kerrigan were among the events that took place in the buildup to the season, leading Lacroix to include the following lines, quoted by theAssociated Press, in his program notes: “In these violent and desperate times, the only salvation lies in sincerity and a total loyalty towards one’s passions. Couture is my passion.”Lacroix channeled his passions in a number of directions here, as he explored, perVogue, “three stylistically liberated times in history—1800, the mid-1940s, and 1980.” You really have to dig for references to the “greed decade,” in which Lacroix made his debut, but the ’40s clearly influenced the hair and makeup.“The bride was inspired by an 18th-century engraving of the Virgin Mary, and was embroidered with fabrics and real stones François Lesage, my godfather, gifted me, and which are still in my bedroom.” —LacroixLacroix’s ardor for historical references equaled, if not topped, his passion for couture, as is expressed in the penultimate bridal look featuring a floral-stripe and beaded corset worn with a metallic lace underskirt on top of which was another skirt of a pale plaid with lace appliqués over which skim embroidered songbirds. Call it a cut-and-paste assemblage, the couture way. Fantastical in another mode were the more contemporary yet still dreamy lingerie looks that move beyond the ubiquitous 1990s slip dress.
20 December 2021
In advance of the spring 2020 couture season, Vogue Runway is looking back at some memorable archival shows that celebrate the art and craft of the metier.Christian Lacroix’s birthplace, Arles, has a long and layered history. The city was occupied by the Romans around 123 BCE, and his fall 1988 season, explained the designer in a recent email exchange, “was inspired by the antique and medieval [history] of the south of France and the characters in [Provençal and Neapolitan] Christmas crêches.” (Note Marie Seznec Martinez’s bridal gown in particular.)With this show Lacroix moved a bit away from the airiness of his first two collections, in which pouf skirts figured large, and into a sort of golden—or gilded—age. There were many shimmering lamé fabrics, some Byzantine-inspired and armor-like corsets. A jacket made of diamond shaped pieces embroidered by Lesage had the touch of the harlequin, or “commedia dell’arte,” about it, as Lacroix says.The designer’s research was always deep, and while he retained some literal reference, the magic came from confluences of inspirations. Take look 15 on Katoucha Ninane, which the designer singles out as a favorite. “The hood and peplum are from antiquity,” he explains, “but the color and silhouette are from 1940s American designs by the likes of Adrian as well as French wartime couture.”Still, it was the classical influences in this show that marked an evolution beyond the pouf in the designer’s work. Lacroix, who had been looking at a lot of sculpture, dubs it “antique toga allure.” We call it glam.
19 January 2020
In advance of the spring 2020 couture season, Vogue Runway is looking back at some memorable archival shows that celebrate the art and craft of the metier.Heritage has become an oh-so-important asset in fashion, but the concept needn’t be associated solely with longevity, as Christian Lacroix proved with collections that accessed fashion history through his own personal history.Backed by Bernard Arnault, Lacroix’s namesake house was the first couture operation to be established since Yves Saint Laurent had gone his own way in 1961 The designer’s 1987 debut was rapturously received. Here was a master colorist with a sense of fantasy and historicism. Here was a possible savior of a métier in need of a reboot and a sense of youth. Vogue declared the collection “offbeat… Provençal… close to costume… wholly charming.” It’s a description that applies equally as well to Lacroix’s sophomore outing, for spring 1988.It was a collection that continued in the same personal vein as the first; filled with references to sun-lit Arles, the designer’s birthplace. Again there were allusions to the traditional dress of the region and the fabrics associated with it; again Lacroix mined his childhood memories and dreams to reference a place that was part real, part dream of Eden. Cleverly, the designer’s references were edited and shaped in ways that spoke to his era, the 1980s. The fashions of this time were heady, ostentatious, expressive. Lacroix designed look-at-me clothes that were irresistible in their exuberance. Take Marpessa Henning’s black jacket with sleeves blooming large with pink petaled flowers; Anh Duong’s red dress whose appliqués were applied with the confidence of a Picasso or Miro paint stroke.Lacroix loved an 18th-century reference and closed the show with a pair of dresses suitable for Versailles, but before that there were bathing suits with painterly patterns, and, released from the confines of a voluminous skirt, a pair of crinolined shorts.Comme c’est mignon!It was the couture of this era that inspiredDries Van Noten’s acclaimed spring 2020 collection on which he invited Lacroix to consult. It was a partnership, the Belgian said, that celebrated “the joy of dressing up.”
19 January 2020
It was one of the most poignant and emotionally fraught haute couture shows ever: a collection produced on a shoestring at the last minute, and only made possible by the collective will and donated time and skills of the seamstresses, embroiderers, jewelers, milliners, and shoemakers loyal to Christian Lacroix. As the whole world knows, his future is in limbo after his former owners put the Lacroix business into administration and laid off all but 12 workers—an unclear and messy situation that leaves one of the greatest creators of the genre out on his own. Only the models were paid—€50 each, according to French law — but they too ended up in tears. "I didn't want to cry," said Lacroix, amid a standing ovation and a tumult of support from clients. "I want to continue, maybe in a different way, with a small atelier. What I really care about is the women who do this work."If the collection was a pitch to new backers, it was one that showed Lacroix at his most restrained and approachable. Without access to the oodles of extravagantly hued and embellished materials he has lavished on his couture fantasias since 1987, he pared it back to mainly black and midnight blue, concentrating on shape and wearability. Little caped coats and coat-dresses, short and flirty bell-shaped skirts, peplum jackets, and bunchy taffeta party dresses all brought rapturous applause from a packed room of friends and clients. Fantasia it wasn't, and couldn't be. Yet no financial constraints can detract from Lacroix's mastery of his art: Witness the simplicity of a floor-length navy one-shouldered dress swooping into an asymmetrically curved back with a satin bow nestled into one side. Then there was the extraordinary wedding dress, aneau de nilsatin gown with a gilded headdress, a vision evoking an image of a saint in a devotional church painting. As the designer came out to lead the bride in the finale, the whole audience stood to honor him.
6 July 2009
Things have come to a pretty pass in Paris when the little gold chairs of couture salons are being transported to grimy inner-city car parks for fashion folk to sit on. Such was the surreal cost-cutting scenario at Christian Lacroix's Fall show, and it might have brought on a loud chorus of moans had the clothes not been good enough to shut up the discomforted, over-shuttled, footsore audience. Delightfully, they were.Christian Lacroix has got into a great groove with his ready-to-wear. From beginning to end, it was like watching a miniaturized, much more wearable version of one of his couture shows but with all the daintiness and charm left in. His signatures ran from little bubble-backed peacoats with a V silhouette to Edwardian leg-of-mutton-sleeved cardigans, through inimitably draped navy chiffon and seventies pantsuits, all the way through to mini-crini party dresses with bows on the shoulder. The accessories, too, were pure essence of Lacroix: lace or flower-printed tights, gold jeweled belts, tippets of fur or fake flowers to tie on with ribbons, and deliciously fragile whittled-heel patent wedge sandals with pointy toes and velvet trimmings. In the end, Lacroix had made a call even the grumpiest arrival couldn't contest: Save on the peripherals, and sink all the money and effort into design.
7 March 2009
Little drummer boys, chichi soubrettes, Belle Époquemadames, southern Mediterranean exotics: All these stock Christian Lacroix characters lined up and wound their way around his carpeted runway for Spring. In that sense, the collection was much as it always is, though that's also to say just as laden with layered delights and surprises. Lacroix has relaxed into a groove in which all the imagination he's developed and knowledge he's accrued over 22 years seem to flow out of his fingertips and into effortless collages of pattern, color, and personal references.No outfit can ever be assessed in a single glance: It needs at least a triple or quadruple take for the eye to take it in and the brain to name what's going on. There's the palette alone: nasturtium, peony, ice blue, mushroom; then the prints and the poufs and the flying peplums; the drapes, the stripes, the bows, the bangles.That would be overload in anyone else's book, but for Lacroix, this show had a relative simplicity. There was calmer daywear in the form of military pantsuits and a return to the short, eighteenth-century pouf-skirted silhouettes of the collections that first made his name in the late eighties. What elevated the whole to a current newsworthy context, though, were the things Lacroix did with jewelry: stacks of mismatched lacquer and crystal cuffs, multiple smotherings of giant glittery necklaces, gilded heart-shaped lockets, and faux fronds of coral. Even a humble woven basket bag became a canvas for a super-dose of diamanté and metallic gold baubles. It was a pleasure to witness and something to be inspired by. Even if only the very few will own a part of this collection, there's an idea in there for every fashion watcher: If you've got jewelry, it's time to bring it out and try piling it on all at once.
26 January 2009
Christian Lacroix titled his pre-fall lineup "A Rigorous Winter," but, never fear, the designer retained his signature joie de vivre. The racks were full of great party dresses—from full-skirted florals to lacy L.B.D.'s to goddess gowns. Not that Lacroix's dancing on the rim of a volcano: There was more than enough room for smart, oversize boyfriend coats in the vast collection. "Sometimes masculine attitude turns out to be more feminine than ever," he explained in his program notes.
19 January 2009
For Spring, Christian Lacroix finally delivered the thing his ringside fans have been hankering after for ages: a collection that transmitted the fantasy of his haute couture into ready-to-wear. For the first third of this collection, at least, there was everything a young girl could dream of owning from the Lacroix canon: bejeweled toreador pants and capes, boned and beribboned pouf-shouldered dresses, frothy leg-of-mutton-sleeved Edwardiana jackets, sexy bustled skirts, and deliciously light-handed draped chiffon prints. All of that bounced onto the runway liberally strewn with the giant carnation corsages and artfully placed bows every Lacroix lover will recognize as his inimitable signatures.Quite what has taken Lacroix so long to amp up the energy and polish in his prêt-à-porter is something of a mystery. Whatever's happened, there's apparently been a turnaround in attitude because a personal commitment to design seemed palpable for the first time. For one thing, the quality looked steeply improved. And for another, there was a much stronger handle on how Lacroix's look might be broken down for a young customer, who (for example) would rather wear a richly detailed tulle-shouldered corseted vest with a pair of slouchy pants than keep it strictly for some formal event. That the collection lost it slightly in the eveningwear among an overload of printed, draped mini dance dresses was a shame, but what Lacroix started on the runway this season was encouraging. He should take it full-throttle next time.
30 September 2008
Who were the women Christian Lacroix sent out for Fall? Some sort of squadron of Ruritanian drum majorettes, marching along with their corseted, bejeweled jackets; leg-of-mutton sleeves; frothing tulle skirts; lace-veiled eyes; and jet-encrusted mohawks? Only a dull mind could ask for any literal explanation. An invitation to Lacroix's couture show is a ticket to witness a unique excursion into mind-bending color, multiple historical mergers, and elaborate detail piled upon elaborate detail.Where it starts out—this season, in sexy little bustled skirts—isn't where it can be expected to end. In between, there are the girls in splashily painted pink sixties car coats and matador jackets, the severe Edwardian ladies, the infantas, and finally, a grand procession of guests wending their way to some fantasy ball. Everything about it is unlikely, excessive, and delightful. Who else could match lace skirts with lace tights and get away with it? Or bother to patchwork three different shades of pink and red beneath the black passementerie on one tiny toreador bolero? Or paint the layered flounces of gown to look like the petals of a giant poppy? At a time when so many voices are calling for a return to sobriety and realism, this is certainly not it. It's escapism on such a heroic scale that it can only leave an audience wishing that life could ever live up to Lacroix.
30 June 2008
Poufs and prints, insane color, and wacky-chic accessories—these are the things that keep Lacroix fans faithful to his couture shows season after season. The question is always whether he'll manage to get something of that ineffable wonderment over in his ready-to-wear: In the past, there's sometimes been such a sense of dilution that the fizz goes missing. This time Lacroix pulled it off much better than in the last few seasons, adding delightfully idiosyncratic touches to a show that displayed some of his good old tricks in the way of bubbly shapes and cheerfully luxe color.Take a cream cloque short-sleeved coat over a succulent gathered double-duchesse skirt, accessorized with a pair of black marabou armlets—who else would think of that? From there on, the show concentrated on embellished brocade funnel-neck coats, patchworked gold lamé and dévoré velvet drop-waisted shifts, and brushstroke-print strapless cocktail numbers. It ended with a series of draped, swagged, bow-bedecked single-color satin dresses in bright fuchsia, orange, pistachio, and lime. As is often the case with Lacroix, though, it's the one that got away that stays in the mind most: in this case, the single black one-shouldered corset dress with an asymmetric meringue of a skirt that could only have come from his hand. Pretty, amusing, and just a bit quirky, it captured the spirit of couture in a way that a young generation of customers just might love.
26 February 2008
The feeling of awe and delight Christian Lacroix can create is one of the unparalleled experiences of haute couture. It's a unique sensory overload that saturates the retina with color and sets the mind spinning at the improbable artistry embedded in every single look he sends out. He called his Summer collection "An Angel Passing By," and that was exactly the feeling he evoked. Without going overboard, he created something quite heavenly to watch.Lacroix has the knack of making the elaborate look easy. He puffs up volumes, overlays lace, paints broad brushstrokes, whips up taffeta meringues, ties ribbons, and embellishes with the nuttiest dingle-dangle pompoms and the prettiest chunks of sparkle. Each outfit is its own complete marvel, as surprising from the back as it is from the front. It's possible to get lost in looking: at the tiered train of a chiffon dress that resembles a river of blues as it passes, at the exact choice of a turquoise ribbon contrasted with emerald, at the jolt of fluorescent fuchsia gazar lashed around with black. All this, before you even note the crazy fact that the tights, too, are ombré-tinted pink or gray, and the shoes are mad gingham platforms with bows on the toes.It scarcely matters that, on paper, Lacroix is doing nothing new. The ideas that went into this incredible collection are the ones he's always worked at: influences from the eighteeth century, fin de siècle Paris, and gypsy costume. What counts is the apparently effortless way he tosses it all together—the intense command of skills and materials brought together in an exuberant expression of enjoyment. It was a triumph.
21 January 2008
In a season when fashion has suddenly woken up to embrace all the possibilites of the palette, you'd expect something extra special from a dab hand with color like Christian Lacroix. As always, he did play with print—with pink and black splotches on organza ruffled dresses, with lemon and black speckles on waffled silk chintz, bursts of spray-painted watercolor and schematic sixties patterns flowing over beach cover-ups. As a total look, though, it never quite went as bonkers as you wanted. It was—what? A touch forties, with some big-skirted dresses and slick, exaggerated trenches; a bit sixties, with neat little coats; and then nonspecifically contemporary with blousons and beachwear.Some of these pieces carried the flavor of Lacroix—no one else could be the author of that puffy buttercup yellow dress with a black bow—but as a collection, it lacked the coherence and vibrancy that zing out of his couture shows season after season. And that's a pity, because at a moment like this, it would have been good to see Lacroix pushing his advantage as a grand master of exuberance as far as it could go.
2 October 2007
On paper, the ingredients that go into a single Lacroix outfit just shouldn't work. Take an overblown, patterned djellaba coat with a humongous collar of dip-dyed felt strips and ostrich feathers, two gargantuan strings of pearls, a lace jacket, and a jumpsuit, worn by a girl sporting a towering black wig with a straw hat perched on top. It sounds like pure insanity, but this was the introduction to the spirited, delightful, ethnic mix-up that captivated Lacroix's audience from look one to the bride.It takes a lot to reduce a sophisticated audience to a state of girlish wonder, but that is the childlike response Lacroix elicits every time a model removes one of his outrageously elaborate coats to reveal some little dress in an incongruous but utterly amazing color—say, powdery pink, oxblood, arsenic, mauve, dusty cyclamen, or vermilion. At second glance, the simple-seeming underthing will also turn out to have a beautiful patch of silver sequin or lace inserted in the neck.It's eye candy of the highest order, yet there's nothing extravagant or competitive about the way Lacroix shows. These days, he simply stages his collection in the unpretentious Palais de Tokyo museum, preferring to load all of the resources that might go into sets and Champagne into finessing every last fabric, crystal, and bow to the nth degree. So be it. When Lacroix turns out a collection as accomplished as this, it's surely worth it.
2 July 2007
It wasn't a promising start, because who wants to arrive at Christian Lacroix to be greeted by black coats? Ignore that, though. In the second half, this show picked up wonderfully. Once Lacroix let himself loose on evening, a vision of the color, prints, bows, and general idiosyncratic whimsy he puts into his couture was suddenly and—for the first time—prettily captured in his ready-to-wear collection.In a season when the eye craves color, what Lacroix can do with poufy little dresses splashed with painterly strokes of orange, purple, and pink was a treat, as were his purple and emerald velvets and a delightful scarlet satin ruffled bustier. Lacroix's fantasias in haute couture have an extravagance whose applicability to real life is sometimes hard to imagine. Here, though, he made it believable by abbreviating the lengths and putting everything with black opaques and a pair of outrageously original boots, which in themselves were riveting. Part biker, part Western, yet wholly feminine, they were decorated with a flower pattern of domed studs running across the pointy toe and around the slouched-down back of the heel, and they were then finished—as Lacroix always finishes his best things—with a bow in front. At the end, the most wantable pair came in dark-green metallic leather, smothered in pearls. For that alone, this collection gets a three-star rating and a recommendation that any cool and special girl check it out immediately.
27 February 2007
The sequencing of a Christian Lacroix couture show has a dizzying logic that only he could possibly orchestrate. One minute, you¿re looking at baroque-textured gold lamé; the next, giant pop-art daisies; then it's on to stormy-teal chiffon, neon-yellow satin, and swags of chintz. On top of this, you will also encounter short sixties coat-dresses, folkloric blouses, a touch of toreadors and infantas, romantic poufs, and utterly simple feats of draping.Watching this potential cacophony of color and technique is one of the most childlike pleasures in fashion, a half-hour trance of delight during which a magician pulls surprises out of a hat. The reason it continues to entertain? As Lacroix goes on, his execution becomes ever lighter and more accomplished. One meringue of an invisibly bunched-up, petal-sleeved dress seemed held up only by air, while a brilliantly draped absinthe chiffon appeared to have been whipped around the body in a single gesture.According to Lacroix's program preface, this particular collection was about flowers: roses, peonies, violets, marigolds, and geraniums. That's by the by, though. At Lacroix, the focus is less on making systematically coherent seasonal statements than on adding to a body of work that is an endless narrative around his favorite subjects. And as long as he does it this well, nobody will ever complain.
22 January 2007
Should a woman be taken by a fancy for a decorative summer coat, Christian Lacroix could be a label to check out. A hint of his extraordinary couture hand was there in today's belted, geometric jacquard coats, with sleeves that puffed in the elbow region, and in his ivory-and-black Chantilly lace buttonless cardigan. The same might be said of a little gray jacket and wide pants; a jet-beaded, Spanish-flavored red bustle-back Empire dress; or the breakout of earthy browns and a white pseudo-African print on a short T-shirt dress.As for the rest, the argument for turning to this collection over others wasn¿t particularly clear. Lacroix had plenty of short organza bubbles and silver-sequin cocktail dresses, but so did lots of designers, and his, though unobjectionable enough, lacked the oomph of personality that gives the competitive edge these days. Other points in this presentation were less fathomable, though perhaps attributable to the designer¿s recent sojourns in Las Vegas, where he¿s opened a boutique. A section of bubble-gum pink printed Western shirts and spangled cutaway bodysuits possibly referred less to Lacroix¿s Arlesian-in-Paris signatures than to Americana and Vegas showgirls. Or possibly not; who could really tell? Either way, they added an off-note, and the sense that this collection hadn¿t been invested with any particular personal passion.
5 October 2006
It’s the vivid and unique color sense of Christian Lacroix that knocks you sideways. Even the tights in his couture collection beam out news about the shades of the coming season: turquoise, purple, and brilliant scarlet. See them set against khaki, bronze, teal, midnight, dusty pink, pale gold, hot orange, and ice-blue, and it’s a sensory feast before you even take into account the layered delicacy and intricate details of the clothes.Suffice to say that this collection captured the trends and pushed them into a personal realm that could only exist in the mind of Lacroix. He showed short-and-leggy shifts with a waistless, floating volume. He did egg-shaped coats, strapless bell-skirted damask dresses, leg-o’-mutton sleeves, and extravagant astrakhan capes. Renaissance balloon sleeves cropped up alongside infanta dresses and draped chiffon gowns. There was gilding and lamé; ribbons and jet; clouds of tulle; and billows of taffeta. By some miracle, none of these elements ended up fighting one another. After 20 years, Christian Lacroix is, without doubt, at the height of his powers.
5 July 2006
The distance Christian Lacroix is putting between his fantastic haute couture extravaganzas and his more accessible ready-to-wear line is now, quite literally, measurable in inches—12, that is, above the knee. That describes the divide between the old image Lacroix has been sitting with since the eighties—an honored place at the table of the Ladies Who Lunch—and the one he wants now: dancing on those tabletops with the It Girls with Legs.The radically cropped lengths of his tunics, skirts and shorts—all shown with black tights and suede boots—are a plain declaration that Lacroix is out to grab a new audience. Will the girls get it? Maybe. In a season when so much somber clothing will end up hanging in stores, the rich, multi-patterned, shimmery surfaces of Lacroix's pieces could glow like a beacon in the darkness: Other than the radical crops, the man is staying true to his Anadalusian/Parisian colors.So that no one could miss the reference to his aesthetic roots, Lacroix played a vintage video of bullfighting scenes as a backdrop, while out trotted a black-and-white scarf-print shift and coat with matching lining, a strapless paisley-print bubble dress, and a hot-pink brocade coat with a black lace overlay. The designer had worked hard to translate many of the touches of his couture here; witness the deep bands of jet-beaded Spanish embroidery in a bodice and the fur cap-sleeves set into an antiqued-gold brocade shift. As alternative partywear for girls who don't want to blend into the background, it might just catch on with today's generation the way it did with their mothers—though, thankfully this time, poufs and shoulder pads aren't involved.
2 March 2006
It was a collection that read like an emotional homecoming: Christian Lacroix going back to Provence, the place where he started in the 1980’s. The difference is that what he’s doing now with all the poufs, the florals, the corsetry, and matador jackets looks much better than it did when Ivana Trump was his chief patroness. It’s just as head-spinningly decorative, just as frilled and flounced and passionate about vermillion and orange, hearts and flowers, but it has become infinitely lighter and better connected to the general flow of fashion.Lacroix hasn’t veered from his Arles-meets-the-eighteenth-century reference point. Nor has he lost his obsession for making every outfit a mismatch of color, fabric, and texture. It’s that the shapes he’s using—the peplum jackets, with under-frills of lace; the toreador boleros, done in sheerest, gold-embroidered organza; the balloon-sleeve, high-neck poet blouses; and the scallop-edged table-linen dresses—now relate to trends that are emerging elsewhere, at influential houses like Balenciaga and Prada, for example. Lacroix’s personal journey, it seems, has wound back, through poetic coincidence and dogged artistic integrity, to become newly accessible. Now that the difficult stiffness and eccentricities have finally dissolved from his collection, smart young Oscar-bound actresses ought to be running into his arms crying, “Dress me!”
23 January 2006
There are some designers who torture themselves to produce their best work, some whose ideas flare defiantly under pressure, and some whose brilliance can only flourish when they are set free from angst. Christian Lacroix belongs to the last category: a creator motivated by happiness. That emotion—painted in a fantastic kaleidoscope of color and sketched with a real idea of how a great summer ought to feel to a girl—came through in every outfit that trod blissfully along the bright yellow sand of his runway.In a season of print and femininity, Lacroix put together one of the most ravishingly individual looks to be found anywhere. Hair tied up in printed headscarves, his girls wore flowered dresses with contrasting slubby coats or jackets slung on top. They walked lightly, in Hessian ballet shoes, swinging straw bags, each decorated with a big satin bow with a chunk of diamanté in the center. And within that template, he found ways to play out all the experience of his nearly 20 years as a couturier: his taste for Spanish boleros, corseted bustiers, eighteenth-century brocades, bold African prints, flowing painterly chiffons.All that fantasy and skill has been tantalizingly glimpsed in his haute couture collections, season after season. Sometimes it's come off as stiff, sometimes weird and out of joint with the times. But with this collection, his second ready-to-wear under new management, Lacroix has finally realized his full potential—in ways guaranteed to charm every girl who chances across it.
6 October 2005
With their beribboned, jeweled-toe champagne slingbacks sinking into a white velvet runway, the myriad creatures of Christian Lacroix’s exceptional imagination advanced into winter. Hair dressed in lacquered rolls, black velvet roses, sprays of crystal, and spiked with a carnation, each model wore an outfit more painterly colorful and romantic than the last.It's great to see Lacroix’s luscious sensibility let loose; he’s at the height of his powers. Supported by new management, the creative roll he’s been on for some seasons has led him toward ever more beautiful refinements of the fabulous things that happen when he designs a coat to go over a dress.In Lacroix’s universe, the magic is that never the twain shall match. If the outerpiece is a stiffly voluminous damask, the underthing is shiveringly fragile lace; if the wrapping is a misty puff of gray organza, the dress is a shocking bolt of orange wool. Carmine velvet over raspberry chiffon, a slash of vermilion against leaf green—the play between Lacroix’s shades always carries a jolt of beauty.His show was a pure delight to watch—especially as it marked another step toward lightness and approachability in his style. His once hermetically operatic aesthetic has now melted into a softer kind of personal expression that registers trends—Empire lines, rococo and baroque touches—andcontributes something exciting to the wider world of fashion.
6 July 2005
Christian Lacroix followed up his January haute couture spectacular with a ready-to-wear show that, while more rigorously edited and subdued than usual, served up some exceptionally chic and romantic clothes.Lacroix opened with cocktail suits scissored from brocades and shot taffetas, often lavished with unusually colored furs (strawberry fox, greige mink) and cut with a Parisian flourish. His magpie eye drew on a multitude of references, including twenties haute couture flappers (for a black beaded frock or coat splashed with giant white sequin daisies); the work of cult seventies designer Jean Muir (for a slim coat in grass-green perforated suede); a felt Victorian cape (for the collar detail on a sleek black velvet coat); and a Japanese kimono print (for a lightly pleated skirt tied with an obi sash).As he has for the past two seasons, Lacroix showed some of his men's looks among this fine-feathered flock. Red velvet jeans and a navy pea coat worn with trainers in shades of mossy velvet; coral charms on a chain slung across dirty pastel fatigue pants; and a nineteenth-century-flavored military greatcoat set off with a beaded cap all successfully suggested Lacroix's own quirky sartorial image.For his ladies, jewel-clasped velvet ribbons in clashing colors (used to anchor the bodice on an evening dress or as a flourish on a lapel) and cloudy puffs of tulle over contrasting under-dresses were both delightful ideas taken from his couture show. And Lacroix's stellar finale of evening dresses—in eye-popping Pepto-Bismol chiffon finished with a black velvet bow, for instance, or mauve crushed velvet trimmed with the lavish Edwardian passementerie that is everywhere this season—exuded off-beat charm and proved the master couturier's touch.
3 March 2005
If life in fashion were fair, Christian Lacroix would be awarded a grace under pressure medal for turning out his extraordinary spring haute couture collection. At a time when so many creative forces in the world of fashion are falling prey to financial change, he stood his ground with equanimity, despite the fact that his house is about to be sold. (News recently broke that his parent company, LVMH, is ready to pass the brand to the Falic Group.)The emotional accolades Lacroix received at the end of his show weren’t clouded by any sense of a sympathy vote. For half an hour, Lacroix had suspended all tension with a delightful display of the colorful, eccentrically artistic couture accomplishments he has developed since he first broke onto the scene in 1987.In general terms, the collection ticked all the boxes of current fashion relevance by working small waists and bouncy skirts, Empire-line gowns, eighteenth century jackets, and dreamy, floral romanticism. All that might be done in ready-to-wear, but what sets this collection apart as a unique work of couture-grade individualism is Lacroix’s talent as a full-spectrum colorist, a man who can handle eye-socking orange as convincingly as sugared-water shades of pink.In 20 years, Lacroix has evolved from stiff poufs and restricting Comédie-Française corsets into a fragile decorativeness that vividly frames the litheness of the body. Given fantasy funds, what young woman wouldn’t spring for a palest-blush chiffon gown, decorated with crystal in the bodice, its skirts looped up and fastened with bows of velvet ribbon? Or dance at some grand event in a taffeta balloon bustier dress with a back that blooms like a giant poppy? If sheer beauty rather than financial reckoning is a justification for the continuance of this unique collection, moments like these ought to win Lacroix’s argument for him. It’s to be hoped they do.
24 January 2005
Perhaps all male designers who have spent years creating clothes for women reach a point where they suddenly think: OK, so what about me? What do I wear? Earlier in the day, Karl Lagerfeld had sent out a number of cool men's suits and sweaters for Chanel (though it seems that those clothes were destined for the runway only). Christian Lacroix, on the other hand, is intent on making menswear a crucial part of his label, which isn't a bad thing: The Savile Row-goes-Rive Gauche suits, bright, exotically patterned shirts, and safari bomber jackets he showed were pretty darn snappy.It's not all about personal satisfaction, though. Nowadays, designers have to multitask like crazy, turning their hand to all the various product categories that compose your average multinational luxury brand. That's why Lacroix put such an emphasis on accessories this season. There were vertiginously high sparkly disco sandals, gargantuan rhinestone brooches pinned hither and thither, and quite an array of bags, most of which came in his trademark textiles, such as toile du Jouy, or made-for-Ibiza painterly swirls and splodges.All this aside, a designer still has to be able to deliver on the fashion front. The best pieces in Lacroix's show were the little fitted jackets, which have emerged as the kind of piece that everyone is going to want. His came in crisp black and white toile du Jouy, passementerie-embroidered blue silk, and a nubbly white, turquoise, and black tweed. He also showed a few in a slightly oversized, borrowed-from-the-boys style, which would be perfect thrown over his white broderie anglaise gypsy skirts.
7 October 2004
Christian Lacroix’s couture is the quintessence of a certain palate-zinging taste that’s unique to Paris. He lays on a visual feast that co-opts the draped grandeur of Edwardian gowns, the boudoir fragility of empire negligees, the richness of Spanish costume, and the eccentric side of the ladylike sixties. It's a rich mix indeed, especially when served up with puffy leg-o’-mutton sleeves, diamanté brooches the size of saucers, lashings of ribbons, and clouds of frosted cotton-candied headgear. And if that sounds like too much to take in one sitting, this collection was actually, to seasoned Lacroix-watchers, a calmer affair than usual, concentrating more on volume and color than his usualgrande-bouffedecorative excess.These clothes are best savored one by one. Take a gold-embroidered lace coat, trimmed with fur over a matching dress. Or a shell-pink, jet-beaded toreador bolero over a twisted geranium-red chiffon gown. Or a purple ombré-painted puffy Poiret coat over a ruffled, smocked pink mini tank dress. None of these bear any thematic relation to one another, save their outstanding individuality. They are for women capable of carrying off both whimsy and boldness, and that’s a version of Parisian sophistication that’s only ever on the menu at Lacroix’s table.
6 July 2004
Christian Lacroix returned to a real runway show this season after taking a 2-year hiatus, and looking at the clothes, it felt as if he'd never been away. Lacroix marches to his own drum, which means that there have been moments when he was been out of step with the rest of the fashion world (during the minimalism of the late nineties, for example). These days, of course, color and ornamentation have become the look du jour; so it should, by rights, be a Lacroix moment.If only it were that simple. It's not hard to expect that Lacroix's break from shows, plus his success at Pucci, might have pushed him forward a bit. Yet it felt that things hadn't quite gotten up to speed. He's still just as assured in matters of decoration and color, and his silhouette was much less complicated than in the past. What worked was a plaid trench and blouson, a slim metallic floral coat, and, for evening, an Edwardian-looking lace blouse and floor-sweeping ruffled skirt. But his approach to putting all this together could get a little fussy and overwrought. Sure, odd-looking huge floral corsages are obviously meant just for runway wear, but they still detract from the clothes underneath.If Lacroix needs a fresh direction, he could perhaps take a lesson from his own menswear. The few pieces he showed (it's a new venture for him) had all his characteristic richness—the claret velvet blazer with pink-and-khaki-checked tweed trousers or the gray tweed coat worn over a baby-blue hoodie—but worn with a beautifully modern, casual ease.
8 March 2004
The haughty glamour of the high hairdo, beautifully finished with a black bow and studded with a sparkling jewel, has returned as news to the Parisian runway at Christian Lacroix. The designer chose that very proper, very Alexandre de Paris idea ofcoiffureto set the tone for a collection that led his audience, as always, into a personal fantasia of what couture can mean in modern times.That elegant device played with spring fashion’s fifties nostalgia and simultaneously anchored the meltingly pretty, astonishingly colorful outfits only Lacroix can assemble. Case in point: his first look, a turquoise duchesse-satin swing coat over a brilliant pink chiffon waterfall dress, worn with pink opaque tights and red sandals. It’s a complicated, eye-sockingly vivid aesthetic, for sure, but Lacroix has his mania for fabric, pattern, and historical reference under excellent control. There are reminders of his love of eighteenth-century corseting built into bodices, which sometimes come with delicate jeweled necklaces, spilling over the shoulders. It all made for a half hour of wondrous revelations in the form of gorgeous coats, wispy lace dresses, and multihued chiffon gowns that almost defy description.Lacroix’s version of eclectic bohemian romance—and his talent as a colorist—runs to such extremes as an orange, pink, and red dress, assembled from drifts of plissé chiffon and organdy, tied with a peacock-blue bow at the waist, and scattered with silver sequins. He undercuts the richness with a sense of throwaway lightness that makes it modern and accessible. Occasionally he strays with a few too many theatrical effects, and his magic may seem familiar at times. But, in a shrinking field, Lacroix’s mastery of his métier is a pleasure to behold.
19 January 2004
Let’s begin with the heads. Or, rather, the headgear: Christian Lacroix sent his models out in silver-sequinned caps with black satin ribbon ties, an occasional bow on the side, outcrops of fur on top, and long narrow switches of metallic bead falling behind. They were just the tip of a deeply specific fantasy, painted by an artist with an affinity for color, complexity, and decorative anarchy.In the Lacroix theater of fashion, suspension of disbelief is essential. Swingy cape-coats come with huge, foldover, lopsided collars, in madly dyed fur, with massive sleeves and maybe something painted, ruched, and knotted going on somewhere. One sleeve of a jacket can be in one shape and fabric, with embroidery and trimmings, while the other can be in something else entirely. Spanish influences can get mixed up with negligees and patched into echoes of Edwardiana. And who says you can’t wear pink, grass green, and blue, in a mélange of textures and surface effects, all in the same outfit?The saving grace of this busy, multihued eclecticism is that Lacroix has it all so well under control. These days, he will slip his sensory-overload glamour coats over the tiniest flesh-tinted chiffon dresses, showing lots of leg. His lace gowns and Edwardian bustled silhouettes are supple and allow a modern sense of nakedness beneath. The matador jackets and corsetry that have always been his passion reappear now, looking less like operetta costume and more in line with the trends of the season. After 20 years, Christian Lacroix has perfected what he does. It’s a singular vision that makes a spectacular contribution to the vitality of haute couture.
7 July 2003
“In times like these, the world needs sweeter things,” said Christian Lacroix, a man who makes it his duty to stand up for romance, imagination, color and femininity. From the first charming moment—his girls stepped out wearing quirkily glamorous tulle headpieces in pink, yellow,eau de niland white—it was apparent that the aesthetic Lacroix has been honing since he first burst on the scene in the ’80s has come into its own again.The difference now is that his signature sculpting (tiny 18th-century peplum jackets) and collaging (myriad colors, laces, satin, organza, slubby silks, chiffon) have lost their former costumey stiffness. There’s a softer modernity in this collection, in such pieces as a sprigged coat that came with a raw edge and a single sleeve, like an offhandedly reclaimed antique, or a sensational pink coat that opened to reveal a shimmy of a spangled tunic as easy as a T-shirt.Some of the silhouettes—like his prettiest belled short skirts—were reminiscent of that ’80s starting point. But Lacroix has moved on, and now his clothes relate to a younger, easier way of dressing. At the end of the show, the audience gave the designer an ovation to recognize a talent once more at the height of its powers.
20 January 2003
Fifteen years after his house was founded, Christian Lacroix continues to earn accolades and to add new strings to his bow. Appointed only months ago as creative director at Emilio Pucci, he was named last week as a chevalier in France's Legion of Honor.In lieu of a pring show at the Carousel du Louvre, Lacroix scaled back and showed pieces from his signature jeans and Bazar lines, as well as some of his vintage couture designs, at an intimate dinner. All his signatures were in evidence: corsets, ethnic prints and metallic leathers, all joyously layered, many featuring embroidery and beading and worn with outsized jewelry and stunning gold warrior sandals.At times, the styling—masks for the models, socks worn with evening shoes, bathing suits peeking out from under denim jeans—seemed at odds with the classic creations on view. Still, anything that helps reposition Lacroix as a versatile modern master, as opposed to the producer of the pouf skirt, is to be commended.
1 October 2002
When women come to the couture shows, they are seeking not just beautiful clothes, but a taste of a different, dream-like world. Christian Lacroix more than satisfied those desires, taking his audience on a trip into a fantasy universe where models became surreal, mysterious creatures—decorated, bejeweled, veiled and topped off with towering headdresses.That was just for starters. Which other designer could handle vermilion, scarlet, tangerine, purple, shocking pink, turquoise, tweed, embossed velvet, lamé, duchesse satin, chiffon, sequins, beading, patchwork and colored fur without ever losing control? For Winter 2002, the particular fascination was in seeing Lacroix's long-established signatures, like corseting, matador influences and a taste for the 18th century, being softened up and deconstructed.Amid the grandeur of the highly embellished materials and puffed-up volumes, Lacroix added a few sporty pieces, like a fur sweatshirt, a satin parka or combat pants done in silver or gold. It was a touch that brought the unreal tantalizingly within reach of mere mortals. But then it was back to the fantastic extremes: a black-checked lamé pantsuit, made hip with a little wrapped lace and broderie anglaise overskirt, or a violet ruffled satin floor-length gown. For these alone, not to mention the 20-minute transportation into another world, the magical mind of Christian Lacroix deserves haute couture’s highest accolades.
8 July 2002
Christian Lacroix can usually be trusted to whip up a kaleidoscopic color-storm for his ready-to-wear collections, but for fall he held back and delivered a muted collection full of black, bordeaux and bois de rose pink.Judging from the German cabaret music on the soundtrack, the designer's focus seems to have shifted from the sunny south to the faded decadence of northern Europe. Always a romantic though, Lacroix cut a recurring silhouette with a full skirt and a tiny jacket—whether a bolero or biker style—on top. He showed his taste for complex textures, embellishment and print in a slew of lace, devore velvet, ruching and patchwork, all done with an antiqued, slightly distressed look.The best moments of the collection were the delicate pinks, the pretty sparkling tulle fairy dresses and the canvas arts-and-crafts painting and embroidery on the outside of a fur-lined coat and jacket.
9 March 2002
“I'd normally put Kim Cattrall in Lacroix,” ponderedSex and the Citystylist Patricia Field after the show. “But I’m thinking this collection might be more Sarah Jessica.”What made this season “more SJP” was its youthful, almost funky mix of fabrics, forms and eras. Lacroix’s eclectic daywear included a white plissé babydoll with a high ruffle collar, worn under a transparent organza parka; a pink crepe coat with black curlicue arabesques; and a trompe l’oeil linen jacket with “Africano-Provençal” chintz sleeves, worn over canary-checked cream-silk pants. The wildly styled collection looked like a wardrobe of sexy separates pulled together by an It girl on the go. Belts of red passementeries pulled back ethereal dresses and sealed them with silver clasps. Ribbons and bows came slung across hips like jaunty war decorations. One voile T-shirt featured red fringe dripping down over the heart.Even the nighttime looks felt surprisingly modern, mostly due to the unexpected combinations of color and fabric. Patchwork skirts of lace and painted cotton billowed out from understated, smoky organza tops. A long sheath dress in gold sequin-fringed lace tinkled as the model walked. An asymmetric décolleté lace gown came with an abstracted corsage at the hip. But then there was that wafty leopard-chiffon caftan, split all the way up the leg. Maybe there’s a little Kim left in Christian yet.
21 January 2002
For Spring 2002, Christian Lacroix incorporated Art Nouveau references into his opulent, romantic style.Silk blouses were piped in leather and embroidered with graphic tulle swirls; mottled, metallic-tinted leather jackets came with corset closures and cutouts. Lacroix's dresses—always elaborate experiments in color and patching—were asymmetrically cut and often distressed, sometimes extremely so. There were several beautiful, billowy embroidered blouses, one paired with pegged tomato crepe jogging trousers. A simple trenchcoat became paparazzi-worthy when executed in embroidered red organza.Eveningwear is Lacroix's forte, and this season his standouts are taffeta blouses with frilled and pleated necklines, jackets with knotted sleeves, and printed chiffon tunics, all embellished with a peacock motif.
6 October 2001
With fashion currently taking its inspiration from movies likeMoulin Rougeand all things flamenco, this is a perfect moment for Christian Lacroix. In his show today, the designer drew upon the Franco-Spanish traditions of his native Arles, but went far beyond them to present one of his strongest collections in recent memory. This was a breathtaking, artfully controlled experiment in maximalism.The collection included embroidered leather pants with metallic fringes, chiffon and lace tunics, ruffle-edged sleeves, multicolor fox capes and embroidered corsets. A beautiful (and sensible!) tweed overcoat was threaded with red silk and black vinyl, while a hooded parka was done in hot-pink satin and trimmed with fur. Heavily beaded Napoleonic chapeaux, playful Jamaican caps (if Rastafarian tastes ran to sequins, feathers and paillettes) and Spanish mantillas that stood to attention all looked just right.But the real lessons in craftsmanship were reserved for last: Grand evening statements included a damask patchwork coat reminiscent of traditional Russian dolls, and an enormous raspberry gauze confection that was impossibly pleated, ruffled and gathered. Lacroix’s bridal outfit summed up his tour de force show: Who needs white tulle when there's copper and aquamarine lamé, “Holy Virgin” blue satin and pleated pink taffeta?
9 July 2001
As expected, Christian Lacroix stepped in to add a touch of color and whimsy to a predominantly dark, stark season.Contrasting solids were played up to the max. Yellow, lime-green and bubblegum-pink turtlenecks were surefire attention grabbers when paired with sorbet furs trimmed with dangling miniature tails and flashy stockings. Lacroix's jackets were reversed and shown over narrow tapestry trousers; a red square-spangled trench shimmered in the light, while a long, black suede dress with studded leather insets and long streamers brought to mind hard-core chic.At times, however, Lacroix's flights of fancy strayed off compass, and his runway became a hypnotic jumble of sequins, patchwork, ruffles and color-drenched prints that competed simultaneously for attention.
10 March 2001
“This is about an eccentric traveler who dares to mix souvenirs from a multitude of disparate destinations,” announced the program at Christian Lacroix. Eccentrics of the world, take note: For as long as Monsieur Lacroix is alive, there will be an alternative to monochromatic power dressing.Zipping around the globe, mixing and matching the styles of not just different decades but different centuries, Lacroix showed an off-kilter collection featuring tapestry vests, cropped blousons, oriental embroideries and a red crocodile top—all bearing a self-consciously exaggerated air of grandeur. Some of the more down-to-earth looks included a short crepe de chine dress with chocolate, ochre and sea-urchin-pink rays that converged at the waist, and a yellow asymmetric dress with a black leather flounce on the hip. Those who rely on accessories to appease their maximalist desires should go for the diamanté-covered, Aladdin’s-lamp-shaped evening bags.If it all sounds a bit frivolous, don’t even think of raising the issue with his fans, who consider him the patron saint of luxurious excess: When the designer stepped out to take his bow, he was showered with an avalanche of red carnations.
22 January 2001
It's a very good moment for Christian Lacroix, now that graphic colors, feminine dressing and '80s references are a constant on the catwalks. The designer seized the moment and delivered one of his strongest, most consistent collections in seasons.Lacroix played up his masterful use of color with sexy patchwork strapless numbers and "painting-print" dresses with beaded insets, dangling chains and straps, and embroidered patches. Punky layered chiffons and muslins, ruffled, feathered and pleated, proved that Lacroix can move way beyond his signature pouf (he very cleverly avoided them altogether). For those who can't live without basic black, there were tight trousers with corkscrew tunics, deconstructed coat-dresses, and a sensational gold-chain embroidered black jacket that Malgosia wore. Lacroix also provided some of the best belts of the season: thick, eye-popping works of art with leather insets, chunky hardware and grommets.
7 October 2000
It was a playful "Send in the Clowns" message from Christian Lacroix, who presented his collection in the sawdust ring of a delightful early-19th-century circus. His setting, which included a towering tree of lightbulb garlands, had a certain whimsical charm, one that Lacroix apparently wanted to capture in the clothes.True to his egalitarian philosophy, Lacroix deconstructed his various lines, mixing Jeans and Bazar pieces with his collection items. Thus, the show opened with his skinny-leg jeans—no ordinary jeans in this fashion genie's hands, of course—given the full couture works, either densely studded with gold and silver rivets or embellished with random artsy patches of bright-colored mink. With his slim pant, Lacroix showed garishly hued boxy mink jackets or tucked and pleated Victorian blouses, all with a high-rise shoulder line.Then his clothes got really elaborate. In an eye-boggling palette of shrill neons and brights, foiled with black and white, Lacroix's multi-media pieces were a riot of appliqués, embroideries, color-block prints and patchworks. In their febrile eccentricity, they seemed to owe a debt to the performance art clothing of the late Leigh Bowery, star of the '80s London club scene. While exhilarating at times, Lacroix's ceaselessly inventive touches could prove exhausting at others; his profligate way with the ingredients made some of the dishes indigestible.
28 February 2000
It takes a master designer like Christian Lacroix to confidently mix a dizzying array of prints and make it work. Indeed, there was not a single solid piece in Christian Lacroix's strongly decorated collection, but there were plenty of flowers, colorful patchwork, polka dots, paisleys, beading, Kabuki motifs, petal embroidery and giant leaf prints. It was a visually arresting extravaganza that captured the soft, feminine side of spring 2000. If you're in the market for a garden party dress or an eye-catching number for those long summer nights, look no further.
7 October 1999