Lanvin spring men's 2014

Within a minute of the opening of this show, one almost immediately knew that change was afoot.  Mr. Ossendrijver, under the watchful eye of Alber Elbaz, delivered a sterling collection … once you got beyond the obvious attention grabbing  ploy of using not just shorts, but short shorts or maybe one might say … HOT PANTS!

Lanvin Spring 2014 is the perfect example of having to dissect what you are shown and think of each part of an exit as an individual piece… in essence, the whole is only equal to the sum of its parts, but each part is an entity unto itself! ...got that???

The collection offers multiple viewpoints on what will be considered fashionable and trend worthy for the season whether it be any of the many jacket silhouettes or pants or shirts and well... even shorts!  It is clear that volume is being toyed with from the single pleat full legged pant to the cinched waisted trenches to the varying degrees of fit when it comes to tailored jackets.  For these eyes, the only silhouette that looks out of place here is the very abbreviated fitted shapes that mercifully were not in abundance.

Not only was the designer tossing out “volumetrics,” he was also tossing out textures from wools to jerseys to eye clips (Google it) to even a touch here and there of lame or patent.  Personally, the collection was just beautiful in terms of breadth, palette, shapes and proportion.

Once again, this is a collection that was filled with swagger and slick, not to mention, once again, N U A N C E … put it all together you have NUANCE and if you can’t guess the definition, then by all means look it up!!  This is why only a few designers design and the rest get inspired by others.

Lanvin stands out from the oceans of sameness and forges a path that one can only hope will be adhered to in coming seasons.

P.S. if you need it spelled out, then have a look at the invisible closures on the jackets, the cutaway shape of the jackets, the pant lengths and most of all …the options!