Paris Fashion Week: At Nina Ricci, Peter Copping’s swan song?
Could the collection Peter Copping showed for Nina Ricci on Thursday be his swan song for the French house? If rumors are to believed, yes. Women’s Wear Daily has reported that Copping is being pursued to join American fashion house Oscar de la Renta. (Copping isn’t commenting.)
But his spring 2015 collection did have shades of Oscar in it, suggesting that Copping may at least be thinking about crossing the pond. The clothes were less lacy French sophisticate, and more Upper East Side lady who lunches, with a sporty twist and a vibrant color palette of sunflower yellow, poppy red and turquoise tempered by neutral camel, blush pink, white and black, to match.
The inspiration: “Make do and mend,” according to the notes, in the spirit of Madame Ricci and her son Robert, when they created scale models of clothes for “Theatre de la Mode,” to promote French fashion after World War II, when houses had to work around restrictions on materials. It was that can-do mind-set that apparently got Copping’s mind racing.
Not that these were shabby clothes by any measure, but there was a thread of undoneness to some of them, especially pieces with a hybrid construction (a sweater in front and a chiffon blouse in back), or obvious stitching at the waist.
The undone look has been elsewhere here on the runways, too -- at Cedric Charlier, Yang Li, Lanvin and Loewe -- where obvious stitching, raw hems and random scrap fabric placement are suggesting a trend you might call “deconstruction lite.”
Key pieces: Fluid, long crepe skirts with exposed top stitching. Chunky sailor sweaters tailored to the female form, or easy pullovers with chiffon backs. Patchwork lace slip dresses.
The verdict: Copping seems to have a new spring in his step. This wasn’t just pretty and light, it was optimistic. Let’s see where it leads.
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