Mazarine RTW Spring 2021

03/10/2020

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Collection

You wouldn’t be faulted for experiencing déjà-vu with this Mazarine lineup. The boxy fringed jackets, Fortuny-style pleated dresses and trousers with a diamond cutout at the knee? Definitely seen before. The striking moiré pattern of a trenchcoat with curvilinear edges? Also familiar, albeit by choice rather than oversight.

Like the mythically patient Penelope, who would fend off suitors by weaving by day and undoing by night, the suspended spring was an opportunity for designer Hélène Timsit to return to her previous collections and further ideas that she felt had not been fully developed. Take the long fluid dresses printed with handwritten pages of Paul Auster’s work, finally brought to life. Or even that trenchcoat. This summer, it came with a double lapel that curved — an upgrade, for sure, but one you really had to keep your eyes peeled to find.

The narrative of the season might not have been woven tightly enough to create a coherent story, but the plot holes couldn’t mask the fact that a fringed ensemble of a jacket and skirt begged to be taken for a spin. A pleated jacket with a metal disk looked like a statement for daily wear. As for the lozenge cutouts on tailored separates, they created the kind of instantly recognizable cues that brands all strive for.