Searching for the words to describe her mood for pre-fall, Cinq à Sept founder Jane Siskin landed (as she usually does) on a ‘70s reference, singing the lyrics to Donnie and Marie Osmond’s brother-sister duet, “I’m a little bit country, I’m a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.”
She was midway through directing the look book images that would accompany the collection, quick to note her version of “country” is not the American Western kind, but the provincial French one.
It was evident in the way she chose to capture her models: traipsing through a makeshift moss-covered pasture. They wore corseted dresses with full skirts to the knee — two came with Basque-waists and puff sleeves, while another two came tiered in antiqued lace. All of them lined up well with the cottagecore theme that continues to grip the contemporary market.
Grounding the collection were polka dots and powdery florals, adding a sweet touch to some of the more va-va-voom dresses with asymmetric gathers and ruching.
Homages to glam-rock were subtle, coming through in the metal grommets on a drop-waist skirt set in blue damask, the exaggerated pointed collars on shirts and Siskin’s take on the HotPant, a key piece from the spring runways, offered here in denim trimmed with crystals or as a part of Parisian-inspired cardigan sets in tweed knit.
Siskin credits Cinq à Sept’s success to its repackaging of avant-garde fashion trends to make them more “tangible,” as she put it. Playing to that, she leaned into monochromatic red dressing and updated her blazer silhouette to match the boxier styles with sloping shoulders that have been popular at the luxury end.