Opposites Attract

By Margaret Pluvinage

Marc le Bihan’s collection was a study in opposites. The models streamed out almost endlessly in black and white silk chiffon polka dotted dresses, with the occasional splash of color in orange, grey, and pink. These pretty dresses are meant for lunch on the lawn with Daisy and Jay Gatsby. Black and white dominated the collection, so the sprays of color reminded one that color and chiffon are meant to be together, and brightened an otherwise monochromatic show. The late nineteenth century deconstructed jackets over flowing silk dresses, and jodhpurs signified the moment where the design influences of the eastern and western hemispheres meet. These silhouettes are what fill the closet of the hip urbanite. By bringing together the urban and suburban, one was left with designs that are easily worn off the runway, but not worn in the fantasy of couture. Mr. Le Bihan has a keen eye for bringing together the opposites. The images of Morgan le Fay, Beau Brummel, and Yohji Yomomoto, were ever present in Mr. Le Bihan’s work, to his credit it is not a small task to combine all these genres and deliver wearable clothes. That said Mr. Le Bihan’s clothes fell short of an haute couture collection, with the one exception of a purple ball gown with a bustle and a long train, a perfect blend of King Arthur’s court and an evening at John Jay Astor’s mansion in New York during the gilded era, a true couture moment.