[Editor’s note: With the news that STL has acquired the Christian Lacroix brand, we’re looking back at the designer’s spring 1996 couture show. Presented in Paris on January 25, 1996, it has been digitized as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows.]
Mona Patel broke the web when she wore classic Christian Lacroix to the 2024 British Fashion Awards. It was the third or so such archival sighting in a brief time frame, and it confirmed a type of Lacroix revival. The designer’s items are onerous to return by, and this one—that includes a jeweled corset by Mr. Pearl, a frequent Lacroix collaborator—was a treasure each in its rarity and since Patel regarded as if she had been dipped in a treasured liquid metallic (a kind of rosy silver), reworked right into a metallurgist’s dream lady.
The look was worn on the runway by Honor Fraser, the aristocratic English mannequin (and cousin of Stella Tennant) who regarded like Fragonard may have painted her. It featured Lacroix’s signature pouf (whose return critics lauded). Within the designer’s arms, these ethereal cloth soufflés (a dish that originated within the 18th century, appropriately) regarded just like the stuff of goals.
“All the pieces was tailor-made for a bewitching enchantress of a fable,” wrote The New York Instances’ Amy Spindler in her assessment of the present. Fantasy might need been within the air, but greater than half the gathering hit at or simply under the knee, making these numbers excellent for the charity and cocktail circuits. Grand entrances weren’t forgotten, nonetheless. Floating panels of chiffon added drama, as did brilliantly hued wraps that have been pulled again to disclose gorgeous underdresses. Journalists on the time remarked on the return of the designer’s signature pouf; it was used on numerous exits, together with the Fraser/Patel costume and the caged bride. The latter’s headdress was embroidered by François Lesage, who was pricey to Lacroix; the designer known as Lesage a “couture grandfather [to whom] I owe a lot.”
