Only a few weeks ago, Alexis Mabille presented a couture presentation that was a rainbow in colour and very much catered to every style and preference imaginable. For the autumn season, he condensed this idea into perhaps twenty pieces that were inspired by couture in terms of colour palettes and silhouettes, but were designed for an audience that does not necessarily have the financial means to shop in that manner, let alone the patience to wait for fittings.

According to the designer, “Whenever I compose a couture collection, I always set some ideas aside for ready-to-wear,” and he explained why he does this. At first, he pictured each gaze on this page as being white, then in his mind’s eye, he saw “rainbow drops” filling in the colour narrative. “Some styles might appear to be classic in one colour, but when you make it fluorescent yellow, it becomes something else entirely,” Mabille remarked. “Colour is like therapy for me, and I wanted to use it for winter because, when you think about it, colour doesn’t belong to the seasons,” she said. “When you think about it, colour doesn’t belong to the seasons.”

For example, in the evening, it is no longer necessary to dress subtly in dark colours. It might have something to do with apple green. And it is most certainly not about jewels and perfectly coiffed hairstyles, at least not for the younger crowd, which loves galactic hair, big footwear, and night-by-day attire. Mabille finds the most satisfaction in his work right now in working with ambivalence and, by extension, a broad range of people and forms such as “cloud” gowns in coral satin organza. Because of this, he can forget about silhouette and instead concentrate on “exploding volumes” and experimenting with different cuts because of the fact that he is paying attention to movement. To illustrate, the designer paid homage to Pina Bausch by creating a vivid yellow number that was constructed out of 18 metres of silk. “Even if you were to run all the way up to the clouds on your tiptoes, you would still see this waterfall of yellow. He said that it was a wonderful way to practise self-acceptance.

The Collection