Anaïs Mak’s young woman is a bit impertinent, so naturally she sexed things up for her first adult outing to the Pavillon Ledoyen — that historic Paris dining institution for the well-heeled at the foot of the Champs Élysées.
Told to dress up, she did, choosing a shimmery, close-fitting suit jacket, worn with heels and lacy leggings. She also let the sleeves slip off one shoulder — or both; kept the bustiers cut low, and flashed her thighs through high-cut slits on lacy, body-molding dresses. The shorter skirts had a tendency to creep upward — tugged by elastic seamwork — and one guest observed it made her want to pull them down for the models.
Mak is interested in coming of age.
“It is grown up aesthetically but the approach is always innocence how we do it,” she said.
A stretchy, crushed lace dominated the lineup, adding texture, but it proved difficult to manage at times — interrupting the flow of a skirt or bunching oddly at the chest on occasion. When properly guided, the results were striking — in black, on a long-sleeve dress with a low-cut bodice, in one case.
Outerwear was especially attractive, limited to ivory or black, including handsomely textured bombers and shaggy faux fur coats with satin tuxedo lapels.
“We liked the idea of having, like, a lapel of a tailored jacket with very extravagant, glamorous old school things and that clash is really interesting to me,” said Mak, speaking about the fur coats.