Poiret (Q8913)

Did you know that Paul Poiret was a colorist? Notwithstanding fashion historians, students, and hardcore devotees, you wouldn’t be expected to know much beyond the fact that his name evokes an earlier time in French fashion. It turns out that creative director Yiqing Yin is a colorist, too (stretching back to her eponymous label and her stint at Leonard), and this common ground gave her second Poiret collection visual interest and credibility.The show opened with three looks in glowing gradients of red, orange, and yellow draping, encircling, and wafting from the body. If, in this color accord, there was a trace of Poiret’s taste for the now-outmoded notion of Orientalism, the subsequent hint of a striated print represented Yin’s collaboration with another colorist, painter Bernard Frize. Filled out by bodies (even that of a minimally curvy model), his recognizable vertical striations torqued and curved unexpectedly, with the best results not obscured by an overlay of cellulose netting. Two billowing dresses toward the end gave the impression of paint diluted by water—an interesting state of flux for what was ostensibly a digital print of his art.To be sure, a 360-degree sense of flow was also what gave this lineup a bona fide Poiret vibe; whether an ample, elevated parka or strapless dress cocooning around the torso, volumes were loose and responsive to motion. “Each time, there’s not a design that is defined,” Yin said backstage. “Everything speaks of liberty, dynamism, children’s games, and the sense of painting assuming sculpture.” But where sculpture is hard, the fluidity was inescapable; even when Yin added material superfluously, it never swallowed the body. As a result, these softly shielding shapes might prove compelling to women who are considering their options now that they’ve confirmed the Celine they loved is gone for good. This Poiret is not that, irrespective of the experimental slanted heels. But Yin is a skilled female designer with cerebral sensitivity toward classicism and modernism occupying a French heritage house. Sounds familiar, no? And she showed good instincts in reaching out to Frize, not just because Poiret was always supporting artists but also because Frize will have a solo show at the Pompidou next year. Those dresses are worth collecting now.