Officine Générale Spring 2019
It’s uplifting when someone hits his stride — Pierre Mahéo is in a good place. The designer took Officine Générale to a wide sandstone terrace of a historic Paris building for his coed spring show, a fresh lineup of chic and individual clothing for a fashion-conscious consumer. It felt younger this season.
Light suits came in the palest blues and khakis or a bright navy blue. Outerwear included a trim motorcycle jacket, a rain poncho with short and wide sleeves and a thin, quilted bomber and a zip-up jean jacket. There were luxurious suedes, as well, in dusty plum or a muddy emerald green.
Prints were new, an endeavor he had renounced last season because none felt right. These ones did, refreshing but not overbearing: rows of white o’s on a dark backdrop or white stylized carnations, with jagged-edge petals, set against a pale plum.
Adding to the star-alignment flavor of the moment was pristine weather and a bucolic setting—the garden below at the height of its season, fountain running.
Weather is luck of the draw. Diligence was another ingredient, seen in the razor-sharp focus on fabrics. Japanese silk seersucker, Italian poplin and “crazy ribstop” got mentions in the show notes, along with a tongue-in-cheek apology for the distraction before listing what he’s thankful for. Mahéo packages messages as a note to friends; here he mentioned buying mountains of croissants for his family on weekends and the freedom of designing against the trend without suffering commercially. Store openings, too— three in ten months, including a shop for women on Rue du Dragon in Paris.
Life wasn’t always this good, he noted; of this he remains conscious.
“It’s a form of therapy, when things were a bit difficult but now, suddenly you do this and it takes off and it works…it’s comforting,” he concluded, after the show.
Launch Gallery: Officine Generale Men's Spring 2019
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