Alessandra Rich showed her fall collection at the Paris Sotheby’s headquarters; the room where auctions usually take place was turned into a white-walled, minimal salon de couture. After last season’s plush baroque setting and louche atmosphere at Maxim’s, she wanted the mood to be lighter and brighter.
Rich likes women to be coquettish, seductive, and guilt-free naughty. The show was a parade of her favorite characters, shifting between bon ton dames playing ingenue, wearing pleated shirtdresses printed with tiny florals, and voluptuous vixens flaunting skimpy lingerie slips and frilly bralettes in see-through lace.
Romantic bias-cut frocks with ruched collars alternated with tight-fitted corsets tied with velvet bows. Lacy stockings with garters and leotards in stretchy see-through lace leaving little to the imagination played against oversized, masculine greatcoats and shapely tweed suits. There seemed to be no middle ground between a well-mannered afternoon tea and the boudoir.
“It’s about having fun and playing overtly with all the tropes of seductive femininity,” Rich said backstage. “Not taking yourself too seriously and being frivolous. A sense of humor can be very sexy.”
