Before we get to the looks, it’s worth mentioning that the experience of the latest Gauchere collection differed from these images, which were photographed around the Rue de Rivoli. Designer Marie-Christine Statz staged several mini shows in the main rooms of her brand’s HQ and studio, and cast creative friends and personal muses to join the models. Most of them walked deliberately, but there were others who either paused in a lounge chair or checked themselves out in a mirror—motions and gestures that created a voyeuristic frisson—while part of the soundtrack consisted of syncopated laughter (was it happy or unhinged?) and the refrain, “Guess you had to be there.” Well, yes.
Yet Statz has an eye for sleek, sophisticated silhouettes that can be worn just about anywhere. The season’s duality, as she described it, originated in an exploration of “mass and void,” which could be interpreted as a version of reveal-and-conceal. And perhaps unintentionally, but also unavoidably, this introduced a masculine-feminine interplay. The handsome, oversized coats, tailored shirts and trousers in faux leather, and ample biker jackets with roomy volume were counterbalanced with asymmetric draped and twisting tops, straight skirts and a standout black sheath with a sharp, deep-V neckline. The constant push-and-pull between crisp and liquid-like fabrics felt noteworthy, mainly because it had a direct impact on how the clothes interacted with the body. “You still want the movement, the sensuality,” she said.
In what functioned as Gauchere’s backstage, the Parisian multi-hyphenate creator Marie-Victoire de Bascher was waiting to walk in two looks and expressed her love for the tobacco-toned coat she was modeling. “It gives you posture but with ease,” she said.
Statz noted how the women around her remain her ongoing inspiration—along with observing how women dress up in the city. Of course, she confirmed that she also designs according to her personal style. “You definitely have a relationship to the clothes that you’re wearing and creating, but you’re always wanting to evolve,” she said. And sometimes evolving simply means owning pieces—be it a funnel-neck blouson in limestone or a sleeveless trench—that will serve as faithful constants while other elements of your wardrobe change.
