Inside the 150th Anniversary of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture

Inside the 150th Anniversary of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture

If there was any loaded message, intentional or not, about decorating the Petit Palais with a bunch of (stuffed) peacocks, no one seemed to care. That’s probably because, despite its elevated dress code, the Soirée des Collections closing cocktail party, hosted by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, is officially, paradoxically, the most laid-back gathering of the week.

All of that put guests, including Anna Cleveland, Olivia Palermo, Johannes Huebl, Julie de Libran, Andrew Gn, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Victoria Feldman and Tomas Berzins of Victoria/Tomas, and Maxime Simoëns, in a holiday state of mind.

“It’s been a fantastic week,” De Libran enthused. “I feel so lucky to have shown the first Atelier Rykiel collection, and I really enjoyed connecting and exchanging with all sorts of different women.” That said, she claimed she would have zero trouble disconnecting for her mother’s destination birthday celebration in Greece: “I’m really good at that.”

Baptista said he’s working on publishing two books, one of his photography and the other of sketches, so he’ll be hitting the photography festival in Arles before traveling home to Portugal and on to Brazil. “Time is on my side,” said the former creative director of Lacoste with a smile.

As it turns out—somewhat counterintuitively—quite a few fashion folk are headed stateside to decompress. Having discovered Aspen last year, Gn said he loved it so much he’s headed back there to “get some fresh air.” Simoëns and his boyfriend, illustrator Clément Dezelus, are going to Florida after first stopping in Cuba and the Bahamas. “People have been telling me about Cuba ever since Chanel showed there,” he said. “Since six or seven luxury hotels are going to open there next year, I wanted to see it before everything changes. It’s now or never.”