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Guy Laroche: Hecht's Radical Revelation
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photo by Gruber-FWD
Mar 22, 2002/ FWD/ --- As expected, the flotilla of limousines ferrying magazine editors
shrunk in half Wednesday, as some, shall we say, of our more pampered colleagues split
Paris three days before the end of the French season.
Ironically, the opening collection of the day was something of a fashion revelation, as
Laetitia Hecht made her debut for Guy Laroche with an impressively sexy show of modern
boudoir-inspired French looks.
The collection marks a radical turnaround for the 45-year-old French house, which has been
out in the cold stylistically ever since designer Alber Elbaz quit in 1998.
The three intervening replacement designers all failed to make an impression with the label --
but not Hecht.
What was cleverest about Hecht's take on Laroche was the way the designer injected plenty
of sexual appetite into the clothes without them ever becoming vulgar.
Call it Belle Epoque boudoir to boulevard chic.
Her big idea was playing with corsets and bodices in some novel and alluring ways.
A flesh colored bodice came over a ruffled silk slip in the same color, an elongated
corset came as its own short dress, and a sultry girdle covered a revealing asymmetrical
lace dress.
At times it was a mite too historical, like a taffeta crinoline worn with a curvy jacket,
and even a tad impractical with the long, puff-shouldered jackets.
But overall, this was a collection packed with plenty of cool and commercial looks.
Moreover, one could see that the models - their hair suitably bedraggled by coiffeur
Valentin - really liked the flattering clothes, as they wafted coquettishly around the
basement of the Petit Palais.
The last three designers at this house never lasted more than a year.
Hecht, a 33-year-old who started her own line six years ago, seems destined for a long career
at Laroche.
Pity the rest of you missed it.
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