Alber Elbaz

Yesterday Alber Elbaz presented his Resort collection for Lanvin to a slew of top editors at Milk Studios. This season…

Black tie galas tend to gather the well-heeled and best-dressed crowd, but that fact rings true tenfold at the annual…

Black tie galas tend to gather the well-heeled and best-dressed crowd, but that fact rings true tenfold at the annual…

Lanvin: It was the maison’s 125th anniversary this year and Alber Elbaz went to excesses to celebrate. This darky moody collection had plenty going on. There were plaid skirts with tiers and tiers of ruffles, slightly undone tweed coats sporting fringe at the hems and lapels, a femme fatale leather dress that was giving some serious Angelina Jolie leg (we imagine front row attendee Rihanna was taking note), plus lavish furs, twisty swing dresses, and slinky silk gowns. The latter were topped off with broad brimmed feathered hats that obscured the models faces, while the expertly crafted light, compliments of wunderkind producer Etienne Russo, highlighted the clothing while keeping a shadowy effect that set the stage. The show closed with flapper-style fringe on short cocktail dresses in shades of navy, red, and olive, with big square lariat necklaces. It was an elaborate collection that was dreamy and rich in its own excess. J’adore!

Walking into the Lanvin Pre-Fall presentation yesterday was a feast for the eyes, and not simply because of the clothes. The 8th floor of Milk Studios housed a set featuring mannequins hung like mock marionettes from rolling racks, lounging on chairs, and reclining on boxes, staring at their reflections in the mirror.

Lanvin: Welcome to the Shining! Not the sinister Eighties flick, but Alber Elbaz’s glitzy runway. Whether it was in copper, magenta, cherry red, turquoise, or gold, the pieces popped in all kinds of glittery material like lamé, tweed, jacquard, lace and so on. Silhouettes came in an array of style likes a seafoam green Twenties style fringe flapper dress worn by Lindsey Wixson or a Seventies-style copper jumpsuit on Janice Olida. There were Eighties blousson minidresses, like a green belted number that split up the side of one leg and got topped off with an oversized bow.

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Alber Elbaz is hopefully putting his feet up today now that his much-adored Fall ’13 collection for Lanvin has graced the runway. It was a different story yesterday, though, when the sneaker wearing designer (comfort on show day!) rehearsed the show with Cara Delevingne at Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. We’d save this shot for the scrapbook, Cara! Speaking of…

The Waldorf Astoria got a massive dose of inspiration last night, thanks to the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund’s 50th anniversary of the Geoffrey Beene Fashion Impact Awards. Leave it to Lanvin’s adorably bespectacled leading man to bring the poignant punch. On the premises: an array of notable industry movers and shakers, including the eve’s host, Alina Cho of CNN, designer Bibhu Mohapatra, W’s Stefano Tonchi, Paper’s Kim Hastreiter and the guest of honor, Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz. Each year 130 standout fashion students from colleges around the country are invited, with the top eight receiving scholarships to pursue their dreams with aid from the fund. And dreams are just what honorary lifetime achievement recipient Elbaz, was on hand to discuss. “When I arrived in New York I had two suitcases: one little one for my clothes and a big one for my dreams.” Why the connection between Elbaz and Beene’s namesake org? A former protégé of Beene, Elbaz designed for Beene for seven years.

“I guess 5 o’clock in America is happy hour,” declared Alber Elbaz before the start of his Lanvin pre-fall show at the Bowery Hotel. Yes, there were cocktails, but the presentation was plenty civilized. “This isn’t about Marilyn Monroe moving to India and having an acid trip,” he explained. Demure dresses made from black and navy scuba were accented with ruffled collars and a smattering of gemstone brooches. Knee-grazing bourgeois coats were kept minimal and clean or given rich texture with belted patchwork fur and tweed. (Matching Russian fur ushanka included.) High-waisted skirts and tapered wool pants paired easily with expertly tailored wool flannel suitcoats beckoning business women everywhere. But what anchored the opulence and gave the collection a youthful air were the warm ribbed tights, relaxed thermal long johns (worn with heels, of course), and printed silk scarves wrapped casually around a low ponytail.