If I was faced a difficult task to choose from all of modern French haute couture designers just one, I would have no doubt made a bet on Julien Fournié. Among a variety of reasons, including personal ones (I am fond of Julien himself and what he is doing), the main is, perhaps, that the fashion brand Fournié combines all the authenticity of an haute couture house, the way it was at a time when Lanvin, Vionnet, Chanel, Balenciaga and Dior were headed by their founders, telling at the same time an absolutely contemporary story.
The designer is not afraid to experiment, creating his own reality, which sometimes goes against established rules of someone else’s game. Like a child, enjoying the process not less than the result. The impression is, however, false: behind a fascinating smile of the Cheshire cat lies a businessman surrounded by a team of professionals, whose main task is to sell dreams embodied in fabrics. The confirmation of business objectives I have found in the press release for the latest Spring-Summer 2016 collection of Julien Fournié, where (in the last paragraph, that’s why it’s so important to read the text to the end) it’s indicated that 15 first looks of the show – prêt-à-porter de luxe – could be purchased at the boutique of the fashion house on the day after the show, while 17 that follow –Couture robes – will be available at the atelier the same next day as well. While on the eve of the New York prêt-à-porter week Tom Ford creates buzz, refusing to show winter dresses that will be available only next fall, French Fournié without further ado does virtually the same thing. Bravo!
What about the new collection? If limited to one word – it is gorgeous! Dark walls of Protestant church Oratoire du Louvre, deliberately chosen for the demonstration, impressively contrasts with bright colors of dresses, borrowed from a pristine tropics. «Premier Paradis» takes us from the rainy Parisian greyness to distant southern islands, to a blue lagoon washing white sand beach.
Opening the show white cocktail dress, as if painted in watercolor exotic lilies and orchids, echoed the final look of a bride – a dress, as though created for the wedding of the future Queen of the jungles, kidnapped by a groom from concrete jungles of a modern metropolis.
The muse of Fournié is a heroine of adventure films of the sixties and seventies, a femme fatale with a shock of hair and a peach-colored skin. An evening fuchsia sheath dress with 172 buttons and a vertiginous slit, exposing the hip, suits her well, so as purple “gaucho” pants with a high waist, combined with a flowing blouse and a guava-colored denim jacket, worn over a long gown.
Flawless, “surgical” cut (an echo of the first medical education of Julien), color shock and the Woman, with her strength and fragility, constitute three basic elements of Julien Fournié’s DNA. For them, along with the disarming charm, some critics have already dubbed the designer as a new Jean Paul Gaultier. I would refrain from comparisons, although the glory of the legendary French fashion Gavroche the young designer of the new wave of haute couture definitely deserves.
Photo credits: Julien Fournié