French brand Icosae once again referenced William Shakespeare in its summer collection, tapping the Bard’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” to find “the lunatic, the lover and the poet” that served as the season’s tricephalous muse.
Titled “The world has music for those who listen,” (a formulation similar to a quote misattributed to Shakespeare and philosopher George Santayana), the fourth collection of designers Valentin and Florentin Glémarec played on their strength in tailoring, flavored with a marked punk vibe.
“Stain” barred a cuff; “saint” countered a lapel; “heartbreaker” shouted a sweater as a star motif moved from patches to prints: an esoteric, alternative undercurrent appeared, underscored by the recurring 82.141.814 (a number Florentin Glémarec said meant Icosae in numerology), hidden in the check pattern, stamped on the models’ faces or criss-crossed on jackets and trousers.
Backstage, the brothers Glémarec cited Los Angeles and glamorous bad boys as inspirations for a collection where slick suits, trenchcoats and open shoulder seams nodded to the smart tailoring of previous seasons. Slimmer cuts, particularly in the leg, and the summer’s light-colored denim belied heavier references and gave the season an upbeat vibe.
A white biker jacket, studded in a dégradé of metal tones, fit that image to a T, as did sequined boots provided by Christian Louboutin. The lineup’s lighter hues and touches of petal pink drove home the collection’s feeling of rose-tinted optimism.
