Something truly seismic took place on the Paris Fashion Week runway yesterday. This is not about hemlines shifting, or round vs square for toe shapes, but something really huge.
Christian Lacroix collaborated with Dries Van Noten for the spring / summer 2020 collection.
It has been confirmed the pair worked on the collection in secret for months, each bringing his unique vision to the project.
So what's the big deal?
Anyone who ever watched the television programme Absolutely Fabulous will recognize the name from Eddie's frequent cries ("But it's Lacroix sweetie") and it was no coincidence the French designer was chosen.
Since he threw open his doors in 1987, Lacroix became a byword for opulence, mixing rich silks in vivid colours with densely worked gold and jewelled embroideries.
Although beautiful to behold, such work is understandably expensive to both create and buy, and in 2009 Lacroix was forced to shutter his couture house, effectively losing the right to his own name in the process.
Unable to work under his own moniker, since then Lacroix has all but vanished from fashion, turning his talents to theatre design instead.
But he is now back, making this collaboration the first time in decade the great man has graced a runway.
Dries Van Noten is himself adept at translating world patterns, techniques and heritages into pieces that serve modern living, and enjoys a well earned reputation for exquisitely cut and decorated looks, that educate as much as they adorn.
That two such esteemed, surface pattern driven designers have now joined forces is almost too much to take in.
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