Maison Rabih Kayrouz (Q3258)
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Maison Rabih Kayrouz is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Maison Rabih Kayrouz |
Maison Rabih Kayrouz is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
“The body has to breathe,” said Rabih Kayrouz—and he meant it. The breathtaking opening look of his collection, a suit in a clear shade of red made using a crispy paper-like cotton, featured a near-weightless jacket constructed of just three pattern pieces. “It’s completely free on the side, and on the shoulder there is a ribbon that holds the pieces together,” the designer explained on a call. His drawings reveal that many of the items were magicked up from rectangular cuts of cloth. Patterns and form, rather than themes and decoration, make this designer tick. “I’m a couturier. I’m not an art director,” said Kayrouz. “I am here to work a collection; to create cuts and to create volumes.”Along with breezy tailoring, the designer offered flou in the form of liquid satin pajama-style pants, and volume in bubble-hemmed dresses that were more buoyant (in shape and attitude) than the horizontal, classical chic of a one-shoulder draped dress (which also came as a top) in royal purple. What Kayrouz referred to as his metallic jacquard “mermaid” dresses were fanciful in fabric only; the simple-seeming construction of Look 30, for example, was arrived at through exactitude.Adapted from a previous couture collection was a knit dress with spiraling cording; it was impressive but felt more consciously considered, stiffer, and formal in comparison with pieces like the elegant slip-on-and-go shirtdresses, generously cut khakis, and a strapless dress in a shade of orange that is guaranteed to brighten your mood. “We must create joy ourselves,” said Kayrouz. “I mean, we can look at the world, especially nowadays, especially in my country, things are not fine. To do my work and to do it rightly, to do it correctly and honestly, this is what brings me joy; it’s kind of a refuge.”
1 October 2024
Rabih Kayrouz is always in his element when interacting directly with people: nudging someone to try on a jacket, showing off a gown’s construction (or remarkable lack thereof), tracing the lines of a skirt like a calligraphic gesture. As he arrives at the 25th anniversary of his label, he has been welcoming people to a showroom and pop-up store instead of staging a show. Its location on rue St. Roch is down the street from the former fashion school that shaped his career.He titled this collection Back Home, in part because of this attachment, but mostly because he sees the clothes as representing a certain warmth for the “personage” who wears them. “I imagined her entering her house being greeted and hugged by her different pieces. The dress is there, the coat is there…,” he said as he lifted a floor-grazing knit coat from the rack for a closer look at its double-sided ink-splotch effect.Kayrouz is a storyteller par excellence, but his designs convey a superlative degree of savoir faire. A jacket split at the sides, easing its structure into soft panels; the micro-pleated body of a dress snatching the waist without corset rigidity; the various floaty silk charmeuse blouses, sheaths, and even cargo-style pants that can be worn by a wide spectrum of women accommodating age and figure. The fact that several pieces were reedited from previous collections did not detract from their interest, particularly because they returned in brilliant hues of leaf green, ochre, and purple.An upper level has been reserved for an edit of couture gowns that capture how Kayrouz can coax breathtaking volumes from a single rectangle of taffeta—cutting, gathering, delineating with grosgrain, and building shape instinctively (this is when you realize how draping from ancient civilizations is the most timeless dressing of all). One style, for instance, can be cinched like a T-shirt while giving red-carpet oomph. And once again, vivid, electric shades of blue, orange, and fuchsia underscored how Kayrouz has spent a quarter decade distilling his point of view to the most elemental—and elegant—ideas. “I never stop. I revisit, I evolve. Certain pieces I let go, others arrive. It’s a constant process,” he said.After Monday, the space will become a store offering the current spring collection for at least the next three months. “To me, this is a celebration,” said Kayrouz. “I want my brand to be known and seen and accessible.” And if you’re lucky, he just might be there.
2 March 2024
Rabih Kayrouz might have been taking a quieter approach to the season, staging his collection in a Left Bank showroom instead of holding a show. But in a way, he had as much to say as ever. For starters, having just been on the jury for Design Parade, which is the interior design and architecture component of the Festival d’Hyères, he noted how designers might spend a year on a chair, whereas a fashion collection might comprise something like 100 garments created every three months. “I like the idea of getting out of time,” he said. “I have to be free in a way to be able to think better.”To accompany this collection, he wrote about the vision he had in his mind, which involved a woman waiting for her lover, perhaps wistfully at a port. He invoked the colors and the fabrics: satin, crepe, silk and cotton toile, charmeuse. He also conveyed the intimacy of wearing someone else’s clothing during their absence. “You are not far…”And for the first time (at least in recent memory), he wanted the clothes to speak—quite literally. Black sheaths in gauzy tulle were embroidered with excerpts from Charles Baudelaire’s “Le Beau Navire” (The Beautiful Ship). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kayrouz was particularly captivated by the stanza that describes the lazy, slow rhythm of a sweeping skirt, which the poet compares to a ship at sea. But this piece wasn’t just poetic, it was clever; layered over several looks throughout the collection, it created a contained silhouette that brought intrigue to the words on the surface as well as what was underneath. You need not have read “Fleurs de Mal” to appreciate that he was rethinking how we signal sensuality.If Kayrouz is passionate about capturing the poetic gestures of garments, he is also constantly considering their visual language. Here, these two expressions seemed to merge seamlessly: a dash of a vent splitting the side of a softly structured jacket; the undulating curve of a strapless, gently billowing black dress in a cross-hatched organza; the fluid neckline of a top that extends like a tail. It might sound counterintuitive for something to be both subtle and dramatic, yet Kayrouz arrived at a harmony that his admirers will appreciate and will recognize as distinct to him.This season will be remembered for its vivid green tailoring: a suit with ties at the shoulder and trousers that descended with the smoothest flare. An equally vivid yellow took shape as a draped dress where the sleeves practically melted into the back.
As the most direct allusion to the port story, there was a tuxedo reinvented as a sailor-style piece, the lapels converging as a plunging V.As our time together overlapped with a visit from the imminent retailer (and Kayrouz’s longtime friend) Ikram Goldman, he pointed out how he wanted people to desire his designs for their wearability, not just their beauty. “I want people to wear my clothes. I want to bring poetry into the clothes, to bring new ideas. But if they are not worn, it’s as if you are doing beautiful food and no one is eating it.”
4 July 2023
Rabih Kayrouz held his intimate couture show in a Parisian flat overlooking a winter garden. It was his way of giving the audience the pleasure of appreciating the luxurious subtlety of his creations up close.Kayrouz’s fashion is for discerning, sensible women; it has nothing to do with passing trends, themes, or muses. He’s drawn to the lives women live in his clothes, their feelings and emotions. “I’m inspired by this woman in love,” he said backstage. “This collection is about a woman reminiscing about her lover, and dreaming about love, about the memories of the moments they’ve shared.” His vision was cinematic: “I see her walking around the city, feeling as if she were embraced by the clothes she’s wearing, enveloped in their warmth, protected, happy.”The garments’ construction was about draping, which molded blouses, the waist of tailored blazers and coats, or long sleeveless dresses, wrapping the body “as in an embrace,” explained Kayrouz. The execution was masterful, yetles drapéslooked effortlessly sensual, as if they were made by the woman wearing the garment “in a natural gesture of hugging herself.”Kayrouz played fluidity against structure, soft cocoons against protective shells. Cases in point included a round-lapeled coat with matching top and trousers in a sunflower yellow cloud-like wool, which exuded relaxed confidence and ease, and a long glamorous sheath made of thin silver ribbons meticulously stitched on black tulle with structured hourglassy shape. Despite its exact silhouette it didn’t look rigid. “This dress is an exercise in construction,” said Kayrouz. “Haute couture is all about that—the perfection of savoir faire.”
23 January 2023
As much as his style is about purity of lines, ingenious cut and volumes as airy as they’re exact, there’s always an element of sensuous fluidity to Rabih Kayrouz’s design. The garments are built with a feel for movement that doesn’t leave space for any stiffness, no matter how rigorous their construction may be.“I think about the woman, I like to dress her for her real life,” Kayrouz explained at a showroom appointment where he presented both his ready-to-wear and couture collections. He doesn’t work based on specific inspirations (“everything inspires me,” he said), he doesn’t have themes, and moodboards are absent from the equation. “For me design isn’t a mood, but a thought, a consideration,” he said. Kayrouz also has a strong aversion to everything ornamental and decorative. “I don’t like the grand turn of phrase, I don’t like artifice, I like things very essential in everything I do,” he added. “And I don’t want to imagine a woman different from what she is; I don’t want todéguiseher, or constrain her. I don’t livedans un fantasme, running after an abstract idea of what a woman should be.”The two collections Kayrouz presented spoke a shared language, and it was interesting to see how he worked on the same shapes and volumes, giving ready-to-wear pieces an inventive haute couture twist, while keeping couture anchored to a more IRL vision. Everyday pieces looked elevated, while couture gestures didn’t feel grand, but rather polished yet cool. One of the best examples was a voluminous trapeze-shaped sweeping evening gown proposed in dramatic black taffeta for the couture line, while its ready-to-wear version was made in breezy recycled polyester in a delicate shade of duck egg.Sculptural shapes alternated with more fluid ones in both lines. A couture black jacket/cape had an egg-shaped back and straight-slit sleeves, and was paired with slightly flared trousers for a chic suiting proposition. In the ready-to-wear line, a standout was a sinuous draped number in emerald jersey, with a plunging neckline and ballooning sleeves in crispy, papery recycled polyester.For both propositions, a slightly sporty feel was reworked through Kayrouz’s elegant restraint, adding dynamism. But do not expect radical introductions of trends into Kayrouz’s lexicon: “I’ve always been faithful to my style,” he mused. “For me, style is evolution, not disruption.”
5 July 2022
As much as his style is about purity of lines, ingenious cut, and volumes as airy as they’re exact, there’s always an element of sensuous fluidity to Rabih Kayrouz’s design. The garments are built with a feel for movement that doesn’t leave space for any stiffness, no matter how rigorous their construction may be.“I think about the woman, I like to dress her for her real life,” Kayrouz explained at a showroom appointment where he presented both his ready-to-wear and couture collections. He doesn’t work based on specific inspirations (“Everything inspires me,” he said), he doesn’t have themes, and mood boards are absent from the equation. “For me design isn’t a mood, but a thought, a consideration,” he said. Kayrouz also has a strong aversion to everything ornamental and decorative. “I don’t like the grand turn of phrase, I don’t like artifice, I like things very essential in everything I do,” he added. “And I don’t want to imagine a woman different from what she is; I don’t want todéguiseher, or constrain her. I don’t livedans un fantasme, running after an abstract idea of what a woman should be.”The two collections Kayrouz presented spoke a shared language, and it was interesting to see how he worked on the same shapes and volumes, giving ready-to-wear pieces an inventive haute couture twist, and also keeping couture anchored to a more IRL vision. Everyday pieces looked elevated, and couture gestures didn’t feel grand, but rather polished and cool. One of the best examples was a voluminous trapeze-shaped sweeping evening gown proposed in dramatic black taffeta for the couture line, while its ready-to-wear version was made in breezy recycled polyester in a delicate shade of duck egg.Sculptural shapes alternated with more fluid ones in both lines. A couture black jacket and cape had an egg-shaped back and straight-slit sleeves, and it was paired with slightly flared trousers for a chic suiting proposition. In the ready-to-wear line, a standout was a sinuous draped number in emerald jersey, with a plunging neckline and ballooning sleeves in crispy and papery recycled polyester.For both propositions a slightly sporty feel was reworked through Kayrouz’s elegant restraint, adding dynamism. But do not expect radical introductions of trends into Kayrouz’s lexicon: “I’ve always been faithful to my style,” he said. “For me, style is evolution, not disruption.”
4 July 2022
The MC Escher–ish staircase that forms the backdrop of Rabih Kayrouz’s new lookbook images says quite a bit about his current frame of mind. Coming off a collection that was informed by the romance of reemergence—more hoped for than actualized—Kayrouz was interested in sharp cuts and “cleaned up” silhouettes for this season. “When I draw,” he said, “I usually draw in different layers, but what’s essential are the lines. I like this purity.”Kayrouz achieved his sharp lines in a number of ways—materials played a key role, followed closely by manner of construction. He worked with both vinyl and a thick jersey for his new tailoring. Adding seams at the front and back of the body of jackets and on the sleeves gave them a graphic, architectural shape. They’ll cut a striking figure without dating as quickly as many of the eccentric suits we’ve seen on recent runways.A pair of long strapless dresses that look destined for the Oscars red carpet had sculptural proportions too. The basque-like curves at their hips are the result of pattern-making, Kayrouz said, not padding. Even grander were a pair of gowns whose volumes were achieved by stitching individual rings of different lengths of cord between two layers of tulle.Other dresses reproduced those couture-like shapes, but rendered as they were in a techy water repellent taffeta, with ripcord detailing or the elasticized hems of athletic wear, they leaned more towards a relaxed aesthetic—not sharp, per se, but easy-wearing in a way that met Kayrouz’s “cleaned up” criteria. A third evening look in a deep shade of chocolate combined the sleekness of a jersey column with ballooning taffeta sleeves.Kayrouz presented the collection in a Right-Bank apartment overlooking the rue de Rivoli, across the river from his loft-like studio. Ikram Goldman was on a Zoom making an order for her Chicago boutique Ikram during my own virtual appointment, and later she wrote to me, “I love how Rabih can take an oversized piece and mix it with something narrow to create a luxurious, yet effortless and chic look.”
24 January 2022
“I hate fashion, and I love clothes.” The sentiment resonates in a week of ridiculous Paris traffic and shows many inexplicable kilometers outside the city center, but that’s another story. Rabih Kayrouz was talking about the runway system and the way it can force designers into unnecessary change. Kayrouz’s thriving small business proves otherwise. He has a group of standards that he remakes every season. Why? Because his customers keep coming back for them.“In French,” he began, “we say, ‘j’assume.’ After Covid, I’m more strong to say it now: Every season I was forced not to tell a story, but to talk about a theme, something I had to invent just to amuse certain people. I hate this. It’s not me, it was fake. I said no. I’m showing my clothes in a normal way, because they are what I call normal.”At his Boulevard Raspail showroom and studio, slipping into a white gabardine jacket and a black Japanese polyester shirt dress, one begins to understand Kayrouz’s definition of normal. His clothes aren’t plain and they’re definitely not boring. Instead, he elevates classic shapes with elegant materials—like the substantial cotton gabardine of that safari jacket finished with a grosgrain ribbon, and the supple, almost weightless Japanese polyester of the belted shirt dress.But just as essential to his approach is his thoughtful pattern-making. His denim blazer is split up the sides, like most of his jackets, which gives it a cool, relaxed profile. A gold lamé blouse is seamed along the spine not the sides, so its cloud-like sleeves really billow. And a black long dress with silk faille sleeves in similarly grand proportions and a bias cut silk charmeuse body has a gold zipper on its front that takes it from a fancy dinner party to the red carpet.These may seem like minor details, but they’re the difference between the bombast we often see on the runways and real-life wearability. Kayrouz is reclaiming that word one attentively cut and draped piece at a time.
2 October 2021
Red carpet and party looks have so long dominated the couture that it’s easy to forget that the metier isn’t only about princess dresses. Cristóbal Balenciaga designed gardening clothes for Bunny Mellon and Hubert de Givenchy’s first designs were cotton blouses, but day wear has taken a backseat to evening looks, at least on the runway, where after dark sparkle provides photogenic snap and pop. Last season we started to see hints of change. Not only were there men in couture at Valentino, but there was also more of an emphasis on IRL looks, largely in the form of separates.Now, for fall 2021, Rabih Kayrouz has taken a radical, trickle-up approach to his collection, translating six of his staple ready-to-wear looks (including a trench and a smoking) into couture, transforming, he said, “les essentiels” to “les exceptionnelles.”This transformation, the designer explains, is part of his overall approach to design, which involves pursuing feelings and forms, and focusing on the objectness of clothing. He is a devotee of the Bauhaus school, and its belief that form follows function. “When I design the whole collection, I don’t differentiate [between] haute couture, ready-to-wear, or weddings,” Kayrouz explained. “I [think] this is the season, this is my emotion, this is my feeling, and I just draw. Then while experimenting with the shapes and the materials I start saying, ‘Okay, this is very precious, it’s impossible in ready-to-wear, this could be good in a wedding dress,’ and then suddenly we define the collection just by editing.”Kayrouz’s fall collection is a bijoux one, six super-chic pieces executed in a limited palette (camel, black, and light blue), and created by hand and with intention. This designer’s goal is to put the savoir-faire of the metier in service to “wearable and desirable” pieces. “The haute couture for me,” the designer remarked, “is not those dresses that you dream about and you put them on the shelf and you look at. For me, couture is a know-how and the clothes have to be in a way accessible, in a way huggable, in a way wearable.”To that end, Kayrouz took his signature smoking, with its “between the abaya [and] the kimono” closing, emboldened the shoulders, and cut out the back. He put slits, for ease of movement, in a great coat with hand-tied velvet fringe at the hem. A to-the-floor dress in black has only a self fringe as decoration.
5 July 2021
Rabih Kayrouz gets that, without comfort, there is no elegance. “I’ve always wanted to make my work like uniforms,” he explained during a showroom visit. “I look at my work less as a fashion object than a design object. What’s good about design is that it lasts over time despite trends. It’s not just a spur-of-the-moment fashion impulse.”Last year, during the first lockdown—a period when he was to have toured the U.S., India, and points in the Middle East—the designer reconnected with a desire to revisit long-standing favorites, pieces that had taken considerable time to perfect. “It was about letting things I had done live a longer life,” he offered. “More than fashion, these are clothes, and why shouldn’t a jacket last as long as a vintage table?” The events inBeirutlast August crystalized his resolve to focus on essentials for the here and now, plus the occasional flight of fancy, and to allow himself time to have fun doing it.Kayrouz culled from 20 years’ worth of archives and fabrics, and consolidated his icons for fall. Arguably the most versatile among them is a graceful yet statuesque jacket from 2014, a kimono-abaya hybrid but with structured shoulders and a Parisian attitude. This season it comes in versatile, universally flattering iterations like black velvet (without fastenings) or tennis stripes (double-breasted). Likewise, the designer’s best-selling straight coat—which typically is worn open—is now engineered so that the wearer can button in a panel for more protection from the elements.In the same spirit, Kayrouz revisited his idea archive for “gesture” pieces, spanning a gold lamé bustier dress that coaxes glamour out of a single square of fabric, a poncho-like trench anchored simply by its cuffs, and a skirt that evokes a sarong with a couture touch. Fluid numbers include dresses in an ink-blot print from 2013 that resembles the season’s omnipresent leopard print without going literal; lavaliere blouses with tails trailing behind; and haute takes on the shirtdress that call to mind an Impressionist painter’s blouse (it also comes in a royal blue corduroy). An ethereal pleated black dress can be worn belted or not; appearances aside, it’s a workhorse in disguise. The same goes for much of this collection, reflecting Kayrouz’s stance that, though he may be the designer, it’s the woman who makes the clothes.
7 March 2021
It’s been three years since Rabih Kayrouz has hosted a runway show in his Left Bank maison, and guests (most would call themselves friends) crammed every inch of space in a way that harkened back to the time when shows were intimate affairs, not movie-sized productions. One by one, models took mindful steps along an uneven path of white display blocks. There were no shoes, only fine cardinal red socks. And from start to finish, there would be no music aside from the fluttering sound of camera shutters.The first dresses featured strips of toile strung together at precise intervals so that they seemed like flawlessly constructed studies. As works in progress that attested to process and savoir faire, they put Kayrouz’s approach on a more conceptual plane. But what was the concept?“In life, we encounter disruptions and we have to stay elegant and to walk as if nothing happened. It’s what I live nearly all the time,” he explained. “You have to hold your head up with dignity. Things in this world are changing, and we have to change our attitude and be more responsible, more serious, more engaged.”Though this was, indeed, a serious collection combining both ready-to-wear and couture, it wasn’t severe. Looks merged boxier tailoring and restrained fluidity instead of being defined by one or the other. Atypical designs such as the draped, long black dress that transitioned seamlessly into a partial jacket, or the red wool-cashmere coat that widened midway down to shield the arms spoke to comfort and protection without declaring these intentions. Kayrouz likes to say he designs in gestures, which more recently, has meant granting his clothes the ability to dance in dramatic movement.Even factoring in the panels of flattened gold sequins, today’s gestures were comparably reserved and revealed a different emotional register than we’re used to seeing from Kayrouz—one that seemed to enthrall his audience nonetheless. The dresses assembled entirely from grosgrain were undeniably masterful; and the penultimate creation in khaki green with epaulets somehow managed to modernize the crinoline and soften a military message. It is in these moments that Kayrouz’s narrative as a designer based between Paris and Beirut resonates far beyond his maison.
20 January 2020
Today’s show marked Rabih Kayrouz’s 20th anniversary as a couturier, 10 of those years spent in Paris. The mood was festive rather than retrospective, with the designer once again enlisting friends and supporters to walk among the models, underscoring most of all that his muses are a diverse and naturally gorgeous group.In the aggressive sunlight and heat of the contemporary greenhouse venue, their jackets over djellabas and striped trapeze shirtdresses looked breathable; their terra-cotta and electric green combinations were vivid; and their modified suits appeared as airy as all those printed numbers in mousseline. Sleeves were often slashed so they billowed or sailed around the arms. Pants were constructed so as not to cling. Every look in white seemed fresher than the last. All the while, the models entered the space from three directions, which gave the impression that they were crossing paths through an outdoor plaza, each in confident stride.“This is what I’ve been doing all this time. I talk about themes, but it’s actually just about the women and my dreams. And it took me 10 years to say it—that they make me dream,” said Kayrouz. As he tells it, the women who comprise his Left Bank studio make him dream even bigger. Embracing additional challenges for this double-milestone collection, they realized roughly a dozen couture creations made from no fabric. Every look that comes across as slatted lace or knit openwork is actually reams upon reams of grosgrain ribbon or ladder trim—this includes the dramatic black bell-shaped cape, the godet-pleated dress worn by Blanca Li, and the white jacket-over-shirt ensemble. Up close, any traces of handwork were imperceptible, yet each required at last 200 to 250 hours of exactly that.As a designer who has always drawn on his French-Lebanese identity more than heeding trends, and who has always put his atelier at the heart of his house (quite literally), Kayrouz should feel proud that a certain timelessness is inherent in all that he does. Proud, he countered, did not accurately describe how he was feeling. “Proud is when it’s only you working. I don’t have this attitude,” he said, turning emotional. “I’m just grateful that I have been doing what I love for 20 years and sharing these years with these people.”
1 July 2019
The names that typically generate the most buzz on the haute couture calendar also happen to be mega-brands. The craftsmanship lives within a behemoth of big business. By comparison, Maison Rabih Kayrouz exists on a human scale. There’s no corporate muscle to catapult Kayrouz’s creativity, no famous red carpet stars to pump up visibility, and exclusive yet limited presence in stores.His talent, however, does not go unrecognized among those who wield influence. As of this season, the designer is now a permanent haute couture member—the federation’s most prestigious designation. Today’s show drew a strong turnout of insider-y Parisians and top editors. And when Kayrouz emerged at the end, there was an eruption of emphatic applause and cheers.Their praise surely reflected the fact that, for the duration of the collection, he was able to hold their attention with feeling and with fashion. On models that were youthful and mature, professionals and pals, he presented couture and ready-to-wear looks along with his first foray into menswear as a single body of work that had a calming effect even at its most vibrant—hello, hot pink taffeta and deep purple satin! This was established from the opening look, a white shirt that belied its simple appearance with grosgrain detailing applied by hand, and ample black pants that couldn’t have been better tailored. The shirt sleeves, slit open and wafting backward, demonstrated a key Kayrouz tenet: Let the body breathe.Further to that point, an ample abaya shape for women and a djellaba for men were interpreted as architectural, all-purpose overlayers, especially in trenchcoat cotton. In shape, they were self-contained; in attitude, they projected self-care. Contoured knitwear dresses were repeated throughout the lineup mainly because Kayrouz says he’s eager to explore the category anew. Ultra-light taffeta, meanwhile, was classic Kayrouz through and through—the only difference here was that the dressiness was dialed down with daywear in order to be enjoyed more often. Likewise the tulle embroidered with stars that could be worn as a base layer.Unsurprisingly, the most labor-intensive pieces—yes, the veritable couture—were those in gold. They looked woven but were actually assembled from ribbon, and the dresses required 150 to 200 hours of work. This was all done in his atelier, the result of just a few pairs of hands and overseen by a designer who quite simply envisioned the collection as “a new day.”
21 January 2019
To describe this Maison Rabih Kayrouz collection in five words, look no further than the Instagram account of Tunisian model Azza Slimene, who, not long after the show, posted a photo of herself wearing the second look—a dress in tiers of gradient stony-hued tulle—accompanied by the caption “Feeling like a cool princess.”Generally speaking, all the models—regardless of age, background, or social media stardom—gave off a similar vibe, largely owing to the designer’s vivid inspirations from near and far. He titled the collection Yalla, as in “Let’s Go,” and explained how wanderlust often motivates a different attitude toward getting dressed; the more time one spends abroad, the more improvisational one gets. Accordingly, and similar to last season, the looks combined Resort, Spring, and couture as one integrated offering. “It’s more modern this way,” he said, noting that the couture pieces were pretty easy to spot—simply look for the surface details, more elaborate fabrications, or what he called “the gestures of couture” (see: the recurring dishabille dress, usually tacked to grosgrain straps).Indeed, if the punchy, confident color mixing and graphic oversize checks were the most obvious message, nonchalant sensuality was the heady takeaway. This came across in the look comprised of a draped tunic with an extra-low neckline paired with a striped electric blue men’s blazer and yellow pants; or else in the long layering of gauzy abaya-style dresses under unstructured coats with sleeves tacked on low to reveal the shoulders. Sarouel pants and djellabas were pitched against ruffled tops and tailored brocade jackets—all worn with bright slippers meant for walking.Live, very lively music from a Balkan orchestra accompanied these women descending an industrial staircase, which telegraphed an aspect of performance that comes so naturally to Kayrouz in different, seemingly spontaneous iterations season after season. “You’re always moving, always improving and adapting. For me, the collections are never about the destination; they’re about the point of departure,” he said. Dress for the life you want, essentially.
2 July 2018
For the first time since 2014, Rabih Kayrouz presented his collections outside his Left Bank maison, hosting guests at the American Cathedral where “It’s Couture Baby” glared in red neon from wood paneling that temporarily replaced the altar. Deduction might lead to a sacred/profane dichotomy, but in lighter terms and on the final day of shows, the signage was suitably irreverent. And as Kayrouz would explain postshow, the point was actually one of semantics.Attend enough of his presentations and it becomes clear that his clients are diverse in background and discerning in taste. Unlike the industry at large, they probably don’t dwell on which collection he shows and when; they just appear when invited and eventually place their orders. Visits to his atelier come close to a couture experience, no matter what is or isn’t being purchased. Accordingly, the lineup today included Pre-Fall, Fall ’18 ready-to-wear, and yes, a few couture designs, too. “This is my work; this is my collection; this is the work I like to do for the women I love,” he said.Some of those women walked in the show, including jewelry designer Noor Fares and the ever-amiable French journalist Sophie Fontanel. There was also star dancer Marie-Agnès Gillot, who performed intermittently in a bright orange dress that accommodated her full range of passionately agitated movements. At the end of the show, with Fares wearing an ivory dress fit for an architecturally minded wedding, they became the designer’s Three Graces: beauty, charm, and creativity in equal measure.Mentioning these details conveys what is not immediately discernible in the draping of a gabardine coat or the outward angle of a cuff. The collection was well represented by beautiful, smooth planes—on a cashmere jacket with no closures; a high-neck ivory sleeveless dress verging downward; and long coats that flowed around the body. Yet Kayrouz is not so much a minimalist—for proof, consider his couture pieces featuring 18th-century fabric patches shielded between tulle—as a purist who judiciously employs color to bold effect. Sometimes you get the sense he’ll show an allover orange suit simply because it is necessary to his compositional balance, not to your wardrobe. The presence of brocades, on the other hand, would reflect well on all parties—with the coordinating relaxed separates more original than the admittedly excellent dresses.
More than usual, his unstructured designs came with built-in attitude—which was further enhanced by his sculptural jewelry. If these pieces sometimes felt too large for the bodies that wore them, they were absorbed by the scale of space. And in this way, it was nice to see Kayrouz thinking big.
25 January 2018
Once again, Rabih Kayrouz enlisted dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet to move expressively in his clothes. Only this time, they numbered just three and were accompanied by French singer Christophe Bevilacqua (known as the legendary Christophe), who was stationed on a landing above a mirrored stage temporarily built within the designer’s Left Bank studio. When Sylvia Saint-Martin and Marion Barbeau first came out in loosely constructed cashmere wrap coats over voluminous organza dresses, their elegant whirling combined with his lyrics of love and longing had a visibly emotional effect on those in the crowd who were longtime admirers and understood French. Next, star dancer Léonore Baulac performed a beautiful solo in a floor-sweeping yellow satin tented dress that seemed simple until her movements drew attention to all its vents and inner layers. Christophe sang for a while on his own, and then the dancers appeared altogether as three graces wearing gauzy, spotted sheaths in vivid colors tied with ecru grosgrain ribbon. They eventually disrobed in a single gesture to skin-toned leotards; Kayrouz took a bow; and then Christophe performed anew and alone as guests began to sing along.While no one would question the resonance of the show—and there’s no question Kayrouz knows his audience—much of his Spring collection remained somewhere in the wings. This was unfortunate, since a separate visit with the designer yielded no shortage of impeccable atelier pieces that, without a doubt, guests were expecting to see. Thankfully, these lookbook photos reveal a broader selection of tops that seduced respectfully, jackets that newly tinkered with masculine-feminine allure, and a foray into denim. You can also see how he used trousers, whether a sarouel jodhpur style or a classic wider leg, to continue the long, refined lines of his silhouettes—invariably projecting his Lebanese influence. Whereas he layered the inky blue lacquered cotton tunic into the first performance looks to play off the flat cashmere, here, it took the spotlight as a striking evening piece. And if the denim coat with its rounded, relaxed tailoring remains too rigid for dancing, it will prove a chic standby beyond the stage in everyday life.
3 July 2017
Rabih Kayrouz was given the Sunday night slot on the haute couture calendar, which had been occupied until this season by Atelier Versace. But seeing that the Lebanese designer stopped showing couture in 2012—swapping it for prêt-à-porter—guests could be forgiven for not knowing what to expect, especially since there was no indication on the invitation. Turns out, this was his Fall ’17 ready-to-wear collection, well ahead of schedule.There was, however, something inescapably couture to the offering, which included coats in wondrously constructed, generous volumes and deconstructed dresses that reaffirmed Kayrouz’s articulation of the feminine mystique. When he wasn’t working with warm ivory or black, his hues were hyper-pigmented. The goal, he explained afterward, was to treat the most basic forms and colors like music notes, composing his own symphony through the new shapes and spontaneous layers. Meanwhile, the model cast—which included friends and not just professionals—glided and paused through the room, with the designer offering each one a glass of wine or exchanging an embrace. Nothing was rehearsed, he said.This is now the second time Kayrouz has considered an alternative performance to express his collection (last season, Marie-Agnès Gillot and the Paris Opera Ballet dancers put on a memorably moving show). If a luxuriously ample sheath and cape in thickly striped gold leaf or an extralong robe coat in dense green velvet push the threshold of sumptuousness, they also come across as the opposite of precious. Which is why, despite their elegance, their aim was basic. “How would a girl in the world pick up those coats and put them on,” he said, summing up this achievement.Next month during the ready-to-wear schedule, instead of restaging this show, Kayrouz says he will do ageste libre(literal translation: “free gesture”). He offered little in the way of explanation, other than saying, “It will complete the collection,” while moving his hand as though a girl were twirling in a skirt.
24 January 2017
How to describe theMaison Rabih Kayrouzshow in a word: Moving. Bodies—dancing backs, arching arms, circling legs, lunging—moving. Shirts, spreading skirts, swaying pants, twisting dresses, fanning—moving. Irrefutably, memorably moving.Watching the collection performed by ballerinas from the Paris Opera Ballet including a solo from Marie-Agnès Gillot, who also choreographed the show, stirred the emotions more deeply than a classicdéfiléformat. Kayrouz may not be the first designer to swap models for dancers, yet the unforced, pure elegance of this show seemed a genuinely fitting presentation of his clothes. With nearly no modification (shirts may have been more unbuttoned than usual), a wide range of looks from the designer’s playbook accommodated an even wider range of motion; the side vents that he often adds to his jackets and sturdy trenchcoats were now proving their value. His ample pants and men’s shirts, which can come across as minimalist on hangers, took on new sensuality. The crisp white poplin handkerchief caftan, a Kayrouz standby, revealed its true pattern with every extension. And since this was a new collection, not a reprise, he introduced cascades of raffia and visibly hand-stitched embroideries based on his drawings of clouds and childlike houses (inspired by his other home in Douma, Lebanon).Just to be clear, none of the looks could be mistaken for costumes. Gillot, for instance, debuted in a black dress surging with dramatic raffia fringed volumes, and quickly changed into an unadorned A-line silk taffeta gown in electric orchid; both were gala-worthy creations that posed no visible challenge to her powerful command of the stage (and to think she had been dancing through the night for Nuit Blanche). Incidentally, this was not the first original performance in the designer’s Left Bank showroom; back in 1953, the exact space was a theater that hosted the premiere of Samuel Beckett’sWaiting for Godot; and it was that scenography—the familiar barren tree—that Kayrouz re-created for Gillot and her 10 graces. A quick Google search suggests the play was met with mixed reception. Kayrouz, however, brought down the Maison today.
2 October 2016
Like entering an art gallery and feeling an overpowering urge towards a single work, there was no way to ignore the near-neon garments against one wall ofRabih Kayrouz’s airy atelier. As he started explaining the Resort collection, their oomph became inversely proportional to the prosaic words he had handwritten (clothes, uniform, work, function, etc.) that compelled these latest designs. To be fair, this grouping represented just one aspect of a range that, as he further explained, was dedicated to the same charismatic women who have always inspired him. Yet, somehow, he still managed to close the gap between these two extremes, creating a collection that projected purpose and poise.He did this in small ways and large. Regarding the former, he cut out panels at the forearms of a crisp white shirtdress, whether as a window to a woman’s tattoos or direct access to the fragrance she dabs on her skin, the motive came from a place of understanding. So too did the patch pockets expanded with grosgrain, which he said gave extra encouragement to inhabit a tunic or coat with attitude. “Habit” happened to be among his foundation words, and as he showed off a khaki coat with a belt running higher from back to front, the sense was of stature, rather than a direct link to liturgical dress.And while all the dresses will inevitably be met with enthusiastic response, two are worth special mention: The first, in geometric lace, offered a counterpoint to his near-total use of solid fabrics; the other, a two-part design in which an overskirt added optional volume to a body grazing shift. The idea, he said, came from an apron, just as knots ornamenting a top with exposed shoulders, or an exposed drawstring on sleek trousers originated from similarly humble origins. But given their soigné statement, no one would be expected to know.
26 June 2016
Backstage, Rabih Kayrouz held a shirt on its hanger to his face. We all do this in front of a mirror without pausing to consider the visual. Kayrouz, meanwhile, seized on such a prosaic action by relocating shirt and jacket fronts so that they surrealistically appeared flat against the chest as if resisting their natural dimension and function. Admittedly, this explanation spoils the magic, so here’s hoping Kayrouz understands it was in the service of parsing his process.This season, he said he wanted to situate the collection between dreams and reality. As fuzzy as this may sound here, there, in his atelier turned show space, where the windows were checkered red and a kaleidoscopic carpet marked the runway, the ambiance felt spot on. Kayrouz then delivered precisely tailored coats, flawless trousers, and soigné dresses that seemed subtly motivated by artistic impulse. Seams veered off their conventional course and panels of patterned lamé sourced from Abraham appeared tiered and patched like decoupage.The velvet patterning on the final crimson sheath projected a pointillist effect, whether intentionally or not. Even the marble buttons felt like sculptural fragments. Never at any moment were these elements reopening the debate of fashion as art; Kayrouz is too committed to dressing real women for that affectation. But he isn’t above a surrealist flourish, which brings us back to his floating collared facades. Chances are, you have nothing similar in your closet; so if you’re tempted, the black or white versions were easier interpretations than the denim-effect blue. That fabric, incidentally, was a wool so wonderfully smooth it almost didn’t feel real.
6 March 2016
On each white table set up for buyers in Rabih Kayrouz’s Left Bank showroom there was a tic-tac-toe grid created from thin grosgrain ribbon. The pieces were marble disc buttons in alternating tones that appeared on coats in Kayrouz’s Pre-Fall collection. Place an order; play a round; note the joie de vivre behind the design. And this is important, mainly because Kayrouz’s clothes communicate subdued elegance and soigné ease before they betray a sense of whimsy. But really, spontaneous-seeming gestures were omnipresent, from the dress spread open and bridged by grosgrain to irregularly tiered ruffles garnishing shirt plackets, sleeves, and necklines. The most impressive testament to Kayrouz’s pursuit of minimized construction was a coat unsewn at its sides yet enclosed thanks to overlaying panels. In heathered gray cashmere wool felt, it seemed like the wearable equivalent of Pierre Paulin’s iconic Orange Slice chair. Other pieces recalled and reinterpreted Kayrouz’s go-to caftan, tunic, and tented shapes, only this time in micro-floral, multihued brocade or the palest peony silk velvet, its exposed threads clipped like petals.Kayrouz’s Pre-Fall collection has existed for some years; he’s just never been one to court attention. Yet his deceptively simple flat-front pocket dress and simplified Bar-style jacket, as two examples, deserve to be seen (if not worn). They offered an even greater appreciation of his steadiness and finesse. The designer, meanwhile, offered a tin of sesame cookies from his family’s bakery in Beirut.
27 January 2016
Imagine you could temporarily step away from your life and escape to some far-flung corner of the world where a lover awaits; what would you want to wear?Rabih Kayrouzoffered this as the narrative for a wholly desirable lineup that did not require a backstory to leave a lingering impression. He bookended the collection with two very different dresses in the same papery, ribbed white organza. To start, a generous caftan punctuated with placket and side pockets just barely tacked down; to finish, a floor-grazing gown free of finery. In between were traces of tailoring that imbued the looks with assured grace, from a jumpsuit that folded and flushed around the body to smoking jackets furnished with a fluted overlay offering hands a place to hide.The seductive touches were just as tacit: slender slits, extended arm openings that converged at the waist, or a double set of dress straps framing the décolletage. Similarly, the djellaba-inspired robes and fluid draping transmitted the weightlessness of a consummated love affair—the frisson of the body at its freest. “Suddenly, there’s nothing to restrict,” said Kayrouz backstage. “It’s very pure this time.” Arguably, it was also expressive—a motif of rainbow ribbons projected pure optimism, while a green hue that evoked antique banker lamps suggested his muse wasn’t all that concerned about staying inconspicuous.The fact that the collection unfurled to the soulful songs of Millie Jackson struck a chord; in the absence of the actual escape, these clothes were channeling the longing. They almost made the heart ache—in a good way.
4 October 2015
For the first time since his early days as a designer, Rabih Kayrouz staged his collection at his Left Bank atelier. This meant dramatically reducing the guest list by two-thirds. It also meant that guests had been invitedintoMaison Rabih Kayrouz, and the outcome felt exceptionally heartfelt—from the magazine-worthy spread of lemonade and sesame cookies to the tears flowing from both designer and supporters alike (we're looking at you, Ikram Goldman).The clothes captured Kayrouz at ease. Of principal interest to him this season was the "freedom of movement of the gesture," which he achieved by venting jackets so that hands could find their way into pants pockets without obstruction. Similarly, he moved easily between tailored dresses in double crepe and fluid robes in felt. Their commonality: hand-formed and -painted ceramic marbles affixed to the garments like a solar system of talismans.Kayrouz mentioned the importance of placement in communicating a relaxed attitude. In this way, a blue-and-white striped shirt constructed to tilt back from the neckline had the same effect as a V-neck pinstriped dress forced forward. The sole incongruity here: A fuchsia ikat and traditional tartan bore little relation to the other. At least the occurrence of a small straggler flap drifting from its pack had a playful purpose: direct access to the navel. Still, Kayrouz stopped shy of ever revealing too much—in senses literal and emotional. If you didn't know any better, you might describe the collection as toned down. He kept heart at great length from sleeve.
8 March 2015
If you didn't know that the Maison Rabih Kayrouz show opened to "Gangsta's Paradise," you might have a different perception of the first look. But now that you do (and whereisCoolio these days?), you can better appreciate how Kayrouz crossed codes of high and low to arrive at his dynamic Spring collection. The designer based his narrative on a privileged girl who dreams of grittier horizons—let's call it aspirational in reverse. That's why the roses, on a print developed in-house, registered more brash than beautiful—and why they were caged in black grosgrain and surrounded by ivory. Kayrouz's high-shine satin was intentionally "tacky," he said backstage, going so far as to admit this was a "dangerous" choice.Most of the time, however, he treaded carefully. By ensuring that his papery, lacquered leather seemed opulent, Kayrouz gave himself permission to introduce a dotted viscose skirt in a questionable shade of ultraviolet. That same knit appeared in ivory, haphazardly wrapped around a well-finished collarless white shirt. The designer also recoded pinstripe into a boxer robe and had Walter Steiger conceive practical sandals, primped up with a flat bow. Sheer, diaphanous caftans had allure but belonged to another collection.Kayrouz showed his distinctive knack for manipulating fabric. To wit, the overskirt that fronted a pair of pinstriped pants consisted of two pieces of the same material from the legs that had been pulled through and draped over the waistband. When a sleeveless lace sweatshirt was slipped under a one-shoulder polka-dot tunic, the result was a clash of cool.Toward the end of the lineup there was a rose jacquard twinset paired with cuffed leather trousers. It then reappeared as the last look of the final walk, and Kayrouz showed how something so classic could be interpreted with edge. The duality of a twinset made for a neat parting thought.
28 September 2014
Barbès is a Métro stop servicing a culturally diverse, predominantly North African neighborhood in the northeast corner of Paris; Batroun, one of the oldest cities in the world, is now a popular vacation destination in Lebanon. Rabih Kayrouz hyphenated the two to arrive at a collection that mined the space between enrobing and disrobing. And if the Lebanese designer played down the broader tensions that both invite, he played up the draped, inherently fluid shapes that link them together. Kayrouz used a smoke machine to help establish the hammam setting, but you could have figured it out from the long robe done in bouclé and the checkered sheet dress. Further on, he reworked the cloaking effect of a burnoose in wool cashmere, finessed a few short-sleeve canvas tunics by fronting them with tone-on-tone velvet pockets, and showed a floor-grazing satin "toga" with a seamed ridge running down the center. Altogether, those pieces covered a wide swath of potential clientele, as did the felted cashmere coats. More specific were the long skirts with mirroring slits up the front and back, which swished like pants.In limiting himself to inky blue, ivory, and deep burgundy, Kayrouz ended up with a modifiedtricolorepalette, which might or might not have been intentional. Add in the gold-quilted floral brocade and the effect was resolutely luxe. Arguably the key takeaway from this collection—aside from Walter Steiger's gold crackle boot—might be that we often revert to narrow ideas about street fashion and beach attire. Not that Kayrouz was trying to be instructive. Quite the contrary; he just wanted you to relax and soak up his soigné style.
1 March 2014
Today, if you got close enough to a Rabih Kayrouz white cotton jacquard stamped in circles—Kayrouz called them "bubbles"—you'd discover a hidden pomegranate (his logo) every few inches. It's the type of discreet wink that remains crucial to the designer as he continues his shift from couture to ready-to-wear.To hear Kayrouz tell it, purity of form and fabric is most important to him, particularly this season. That idea might sound played out until you realize how much he has done with so little. For Spring, many of his looks were rooted in rectangles—most obviously, they appeared to cascade from skirts long and short. He placed a belt on the inside of various dresses and the result mimicked artful draping that had the added benefit of being easily adjustable. His dimensional knits were also rectangular if you extend the definition to the rolled tubular patterning built from a plastic thread base. As a horizontal stripe on a sculpted sweatshirt-style dress, the French knit was neither pure in form nor fabric—and yet it expressed Kayrouz's vision perfectly.Kayrouz is at his weakest when he overthinks and overlayers, but he hardly did either today. His aim to create clothes for powerful women was captured in his choice of palest pink; only a commanding personality could make that her new neutral. As for the glinting pieces in silver, they were coated cotton and represented Kayrouz's way of expressing restrained glamour. Clearly, he enjoys taking a maximalist approach to minimalism—and it's an approach that serves him well.
28 September 2013
After several seasons showing couture, Rabih Kayrouz debuted his ready-to-wear collection a year ago. With today's outing, Kayrouz seemed to find his voice as a ready-to-wear designer, translating his architectural sensibility into realistic, appealing clothes. The knits were the obvious standout here—in particular the sweaters with an unusual, magnified rib on the bodice or sleeves—and Kayrouz's slit skirts came a close second. Knee-length, with a full shape, they had been razored between pleats with a surgical precision. That sort of technique can easily come off messy, but these skirts looked sharp; they were also surprisingly modest, given the length of leg on display. And there was another kind of modesty, too, in Kayrouz's rather simple silk gowns and knee-length dresses; fluidly draped and banded at the waist, they were just very attractive, nothing else. Although some of the other looks here were a touch mannered, those dresses and gowns proved that Kayrouz is a designer who knows when to leave well enough alone. That's a promising omen.
2 March 2013