Rixo Celebrates Collaboration With House of Christian Lacroix in London
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LOUD COLLAB: A string octet was almost inaudible when the fashion crowd poured in the ballroom of the Kimpton Fitzroy London on Saturday, where buzzy contemporary label Rixo unveiled its collaboration with the house of Christian Lacroix.
A lavish, Marie-Antoinette-inspired celebration complete with candelabras, floral arrangements and pastel-toned canapés and drinks framed the presentation of the see-now-buy-now, limited-edition capsule collection, which has been in works for a year.
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“It’s a total dream come true. They e-mailed us actually a year ago and we literally thought it was a junk, spam e-mail. We thought ‘This can’t be true, this is the stuff that we usually look out for inspiration’,” said Orlagh McCloskey, who with co-founder Henrietta Rix made her penchant for vintage-inspired pieces and colorful prints the raison d’être of the brand.
“At just four years into Rixo, it’s amazing to see how open and forward-thinking our favorite historic fashion house is to collaborating with an emerging contemporary brand,” added Rix.
The founders delved in the French fashion house’s vintage fabric archives to rework colorful patterns to splash on Rixo’s signature fluid and easy-to-wear dresses. The collaboration resulted in an energetic and credible tie-up, with Lacroix’ exuberant sense of color elevating Rixo’s no-fuss silhouettes.
“The Lacroix DNA is so in tune with Rixo’s [due to] the vibrant visual prints and the completely individual and empowering viewpoint on style. It felt natural to collaborate,” said McCloskey, adding that “because we are quite vintage-inspired anyway, for us was a way to be more expressive with a couture house in terms of colors and prints.”
A diverse cast of women roamed around a pink U-shaped catwalk sporting a riot of diagonal stripes, florals, polka dots and checks, juxtaposed on fluid dresses, ruffled skirts and blouses for a maximalist effect and punctuated by baroque gold buttons and jewel embellishments. Tailoring also made an appearance via Sixties-inspired miniskirt suits while a black-and-white polka dot dress with puffed sleeves and ruffles charmed.
Each look was styled with vintage Christian Lacroix jewelry and bags loaned from the brand’s Paris archive, while a central podium additionally displayed vintage couture Christian Lacroix pieces that inspired the collaboration.
The capsule collection will be available at the Rixo store and e-commerce as well as at Browns and the Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées in Paris. Prices for the range will span from 24 pounds for a scrunchie to 485 pounds for a dress.
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