Alexis Mabille presented a capsule of eveningwear in a mirrored gallery in a Paris passage. Set up as an intimate salon de couture, it was a charming frame for the designer’s robes de soirée. Called Evening Essentials, it was a concise occasion wardrobe that Mabille’s high-flying, party-loving clientele will surely love.
“It keeps an ésprit couture, but it has the ease and sleek of prêt-à-porter,” he said. Mabille is a designer with a natural understanding of French chic, which he treats with both respect and a sense of humor. Here, he softened the formality of couture eveningwear with a modern, uncomplicated twist that will appeal to his younger fans. Pieces looked elegant but effortless and versatile at the same time: a billowy chemise dress in pale pink taffeta had an ample back (à la Watteau). It looked both entrance-making and comfortable, and it could also be worn as an opera coat. On the same note, an emerald-green caftan in matte and shiny liquid satin could be cinched at the waist with a sash or worn loose, flattering different body types.
Other more form-fitting options, such as a slip dress in red chantilly lace or a sinuous dusty pink number worn under a matching embroidered bolero, had an ease about them which didn’t detract from their “va-va-voom effect,” as Mabille called it. While he likes a bit of drama, there was nothing flashy or overtly bodycon in the collection—a rather décontracté way of approaching eveningwear. Plays of bows, trompe-l’oeils and plissé details introduced a bit of frivolity. Yet in Mabille’s world, the French flair for flirtatiousness goes hand in hand with easy, nonchalant chic.