Gilded Amazons, inter-galactic empresses, glittering classical goddesses—Julien Dossena landed Rabanne on a fantastical planet for spring. Or perhaps, as he speculated in a preview, it might have been “Ibiza in the ’70s, which was very Paco Rabanne. There was always this thing [in his work] where it could be mystical priestesses for some kind of temple, but you can never tell which age it comes from.”
Quiet luxury has never been heard of in this realm of gold, silver and maximal texture, needless to say. That’s not the fashion language Dossena speaks—not that he should. If anything this season, it felt as if his own imagination, as well as his appetite for exploring technique, had really taken wing and flown further. There were slinky, slithery metallics; all the fringed handkerchief-point micro-tunics and draped hoods he showed were still at the heart of it. But what Dossena has brought to Rabanne, the brand, goes far beyond the chainmail the founder invented.
The draping and wrapping of non-mesh fabrics stood out, particularly a black sari-like dress, looping up at the back with no visible beginning or end. So, too, did the artisanal intensity of the shaggy wool fringing, and, contrastingly, the pale, frosted, all-over pailletted surface of an amazing futuristic pajama suit.
At moments like that, the collection looked closer to haute couture than ready-to-wear. Surely that’s something to do with the inspiration Dossena gleaned from working with the haute couture ateliers at Jean Paul Gaultier this summer. Whatever the case, it’s shaping up as a great year for Dossena. A show like this is surely designed to propel his name even further into the talked-about fashionsphere.
Collection
This article was originally published on Vogue Runway.
