“It’s like Coachella,” said one observer of the Zadig & Voltaire lineup, presented on a group of in-character models who stood atop an elevated lawn in the courtyard of a hôtel particulier in Paris’ 16th arrondissement, their python Candide handbags filled with daisies or placed on swings hanging from a tree.
For the sprawling collection, Cecilia Bönström summoned the attitude of perennial rock icons like Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie, even paying homage to the white suit worn by Jagger for his wedding to Bianca in 1971 — revisited in a grainy gold and sand jacquard — as part of a new Zadig & Voltaire capsule wedding line. (The update on the brand’s Optimiste bag, meanwhile — the Optimiste Plus — sported a studded shoulder strap reminiscent of a guitar strap.)
Riding the festival vibe were patchwork denim, retro-flower-print jumpsuits with fringed bib fronts, frilly sleeved maxi blouses and multicolored dresses worn under summer furs sprayed with colored stripes. The ath-leisure trend was alive and well in the fluid pants with tuxedo stripes, Neoprene sweatshirts and hoodies and pastel leather sweatpants.
Bönström winked to the work of artist Urs Fischer with witty fruit T-shirts (think Voltaire’s face covered with a slice of lemon), while a cast of characters including skeleton magicians, pirates and fairy-tale tigers — embroidered onto the line’s denim jumpsuits, silk dresses, leather bikers and Pilar boots — were the handiwork of celebrated Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Virginia Elwood.