Apart from attending fashion shows, is there any other job in which those who are typically paid the most tend to arrive the latest? Waiting for this evening’s Ami show we had time to reflect on this and other hot topics at the end of the hottest day in France’s history. As Alexandre Mattiussi observed in his cramped backstage area: “Paris is burning!” It really is.
Shooting the breeze next to an industrial fan, Mattiussi delivered an urgent update on a new member of the Ami family. He’s heading to the South of France tomorrow to pick up an adorable puppy named Abi. Expect to see this Chihuahua-ish heartbreaker on an Ami runway sooner rather than later. This season’s walk, meanwhile, was dedicated to a typically quotidian collection of elevated everyday clothing as seen through Mattiussi’s Parisian prism.
This was distilled most directly by the guy in red cavalry stripe breaky pants and a black I ❤️ PARIS t-shirt. “I love Paris, for sure,” expounded Mattiussi: “And it’s also about the love for the clothes. A passion for the reality of it—a good mix.” That mix included loose shorts and tops whose flatlocked stitched red and navy panels pieced together the outline of a heart, as well as argyle knits remixed into blocky reproductions of the same emotional symbol. There were striped rugby shirts that nodded to the late David Hockney’s enduring fashion quirk, and nylon pullovers, track shorts, and track jackets in black, red, and white, which were sometimes worn with endearingly saggy tube socks and a new dadcore house sneaker.
Fitted ribbed knit dresses and pants, low-backed slip dresses worn over poplin shirting, paillette skirts, pajama pants, leather skirts, and the brand’s enduringly accessible modern tailoring all but completed the suite. There was a very cute women’s shirt skirt worn with its “sleeves” tied like a belt. Outerwear in suede, matte leather, and drill was gently period-ized to carry the aura of extremely well-preserved vintage store treasures. Striped polo shorts were shrunken and long silky trenches were washed to carry a similarly lived-in yet still pristine aura.
“I want comfort, I want fun, I want easiness, I want colors, I want joy, and I want optimism,” Mattiussi wishlist-ed. It was a oui from me.
