As anyone who follows Julie de Libran’s Instagram account already knows, she’s one designer who takes well-being seriously. For this outing, she decided to bring guests along, inviting them to slip out of their shoes, onto jute carpeting, and into a seating arrangement wedged between Pilates reformers at the newly opened Studio Rituel on the Left Bank.
“I’ve invited you here because this is my ritual,” the designer said backstage before the show. “It’s really a personal issue for me. Sometimes I forget to breathe, so this is where I try to be aligned and focus on mind and body because when your body feels good, your mind is clear.”
The studio’s founder, dancer Verena Tremel, was on hand too, counting out the beats as models wove between the equipment on a makeshift runway, occasionally stretching to show that, yes, that black gaufré jacquard suit—among other looks—was made for movement.
By turns breezy and body-con, romantic and structured, the lineup spanned disparate trains of thought, shifting from the silvery sequined mesh dress that opened the show to a dance-inspired ruffled fuchsia gown and tiers of swingy hand-cut metallic fringe on a long dress with multi-snap closures.
An undercurrent of upcycling could be found in a dress made of multiple white shirts, shown with a nicely cut denim jacket; a gilet with rosettes at the hem; or a jacket patched together from couture tweeds saved from previous collections. A sleeveless jacket with diamanté buttons and floral appliqués landed well, as did a long white shirt with an appliquéd floral motif worn over simple, straight white trousers.
Those plus a handful of other looks—in chiffon or sculpted raffia glossed with tonal sequins, in silk brocade slung with a jeweled belt, and a couple of ensembles that looked as comfortable as pajamas—felt like a gentle and unfussy reminder, in these heavily corseted times, to just take a beat and breathe.
