It was in the thick of party season when I visited Roland Mouret at his Clerkenwell studio—and judging by the racks of clothes showcasing his pre-fall collection, the mood was certainly festive Chez Mouret. Earlier in December, at the Fashion Awards, one of the designer’s meticulously cut black velvet gowns was worn by Issa Rae, who picked up one of the night’s major trophies; and hanging from the rails were more crystals and sequins than you could shake a stick at, telegraphing an air of confidence and glamour on behalf of both Mouret and any future wearer. “It should have a cool attitude, but not in your face,” said Mouret, firmly.
While Mouret always begins the design process through fitting and draping on a mannequin (as opposed to a mood board, or the like) he did concede an unusually specific source of inspiration this season in the form of Tamara de Lempicka. The Art Deco painter’s turbo-charged paintings of sleek, glamorous women were echoed gently in the bold diagonal of a paneled mini dress, or the slight lift of a padded power shoulder on a jacket, or a dress with a structured neckline whose exaggerated proportions (lined with crystals, naturally) recalled the wings of a bird in flight. Yet Mouret knows how to indulge his more flamboyant side while remaining within the realm of good taste: to counterbalance the collection’s more opulent moments, he kept his enduring love of 20th-century American fashion front of mind—and more specifically, the minim.
