Marc Le Bihan - Another Experimentalist Goes Astray
By: Timothy Hagy
Photos by: Javier Mateo
Paris, Oct 6, 2001/ FW/ --- The third and final experimentalist of a long Friday opened
his show with a sextet of white tails for men and textured dresses for women, accompanied
by a duet of violin and cello.
Live music, live dance, live theatrics provided for a diversion from the routine, as did
the fact that Marc Le Bihan chose to show both women's and men's collections together.
Nonetheless, as the goal of the evening was the presentation of fashion to the press, that
must be the guideline for this critique.
The collection itself was anchored in historical models, as in high Elizabethan collars,
reinforced by white make-up, presumably void of lead, and morning jackets with tails that
would have been at home at the court of Louis XVI.
The skirt worn by the tall Black man, however, belonged to no discernable era.
The fact is that many good ideas were tarnished by unfinished details, and on the whole,
the show never gelled and neither did the collection.
While it was refreshing to see men and women, Caucasian, Black, Asian and Arab models all
together on the same runway, the mix match of ideas, styles, and direction was overwhelming.
Thus, the ultimate goal, that of producing a fashion statement, also became convoluted.
Marc Le Bihan is endowed with talent, and imagination.
Hopefully, next season he can hone in on the essential for a wining combination.
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