The shop floor at Guerrisol — a thrift store in Paris’ Barbès neighborhood fashion students and studio interns hunt for cheap, secondhand threads — was an apt location for Neith Nyer’s fall show.
The fourth collection for the brand by designer Francisco Terra had a strong upcycling and DIY bent with embellished patchwork denim and spray-painted shoes. Glossy pastel materials and decadent prints mixing blossoms and leopard spots were the sort of thing one might fish out of the thrift store’s bin, but were transformed by artful tailoring into looks whose garishness was offset by a dose of dreamy femininity. Hooked seams on teddy-bear fur coats allowed them to be split in two and reconfigured as asymmetrical capes.
Terra, who previously worked in the studios of Carven and Givenchy, wrote a manga as the starting point for the collection. “The book is about Tokyo in the future, and world is chaotic,” he said. “People end up being forced to go in their grandmother’s closet.” The narrative came across clearly: By putting grunge and retro materials to use in a lineup of cheerful and cheeky looks, the designer supplied the dream wardrobe for “Sailor Moon” fans in difficult times.