Away from the runway, Marie-Christine Statz has been collaborating with Benjamin Millepied in recent seasons, including on last year’s hit Grace (Jeff Buckley Dances) and The Nutcracker.
For the spring collection, the star choreographer and the designer paired up yet again, trading a grand stage for Gauchère’s intimate, Haussmannian showroom just near the Tuileries. In a brief, poetic performance, a handful of dancers cycled in and out of the salon wearing a selection of 15 pieces from a spring collection based on muted tones—white, beige, brown, black—livened up with bursts of slatey blues and glossy finishes, for example on whisper-light bralette tops rigged to the bust with complex asymmetrical lacing.
“The inspiration for this collection was transformation and the idea of alternate forces, opposites, because above the idea of movement of the garment, there is this idea of floating, transition, and showing the clothes in a different way,” the designer explained. Millepied, for his part, said that despite the confines of the space, he was “happy to bring the clothes in an emotional context, from different angles. I found it really rewarding as an experience of the clothing.”
Statz’s greatest strength is her command of easy, modern tailoring. Behind the scenes, editors had a chance to take a closer look at the full lineup, from the layered tanks shown here to pieces in Japanese denim and in faux leather (a first for the brand) that looked polished yet, as the dancers proved, can stand up to a broader range of movement than any typical day outside of a rehearsal room might conceivably require. Some conceptual options, notably a series of multi-snap pieces constructed using panels of sold-viscose crepe, will appeal to fans who enjoy experimenting with dress. There also will be plenty on the racks for those who appreciate Gauchère’s “quiet simplicity,” as Millepied aptly put it. It just would have been nice to see more of that on the runway.
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