PARIS – A strict palette of red, lime green, black and ivory, and fabric in its purest form, met the fashion set for French designer Stephane Rolland’s highly-sculptural spring-summer haute couture offering.
Inspired by the work of kinetic artist Michel Deverne, Rolland’s rich floor-sweeping gowns were kept ultra-simple to show off the movement of the materials.
His 10 years of haute couture experience at the helm of Jean-Louis Scherrer was on full display. Clean silhouettes, combined with sweeping waist appendages and expert draping, were broken up only by the odd shiny breastplate or waistband in gold metal.
But you couldn’t help but feel that Rolland fell short of the mark. His aim was crystal clear: displaying the natural beauty of fabrics such as silk jersey, gazar and organza that often are embroidered to death in couture. However, the collection suffered from its simplicity and became a bit repetitive.
For the finale piece Rolland’s muse-of-the-day, former supermodel Yasmin Le Bon looked uncomfortable walking in a humongous red silk jersey ball gown with assorted lacquered metal appliques. She had a right to be nervous: weighing in at 50 kilograms and 45 metres of fabric at its longest point, the train had to be carried by two assistants.
