Anyone who wants to know how Parisians evolve a wardrobe over time need look no further than Véronique Leroy. An indie insider for more than three decades, the Belgian designer has a knack for creating signature staples that last. And his loyalists will happily stray from the usual shopping thoroughfares to visit his quiet, bright atelier next to Pierre Lachise Cemetery.
“Clients in France, Belgium and elsewhere know that what’s here will go with what they already have, and we’ll adapt things for them,” the designer said on a recent visit. “Often, they also rediscover things from their closets and wear them again. I like the idea of keeping an outfit for a long time, forgetting about it, and then finding it again.”
A champion of slow fashion from the start—perhaps acquired from his early days working for Azdin Alaia—Leroy created his fall collection by working primarily with two seemingly opposite materials: a Japanese silk polyester taffeta and heavy wool in “wartime ’40s” tones, dove gray and reddish-gray. Picking up the sleeveless top, Leroy explained that he chose taffeta for its sculptural quality, which allows the wearer to finish the piece and adjust its volume as desired. “I love the idea of a dress being finished after just one wear,” she notes, describing the pairing of taffeta with flat wool as a “clash” rather than a contrast. In the season of the power shoulder, outerwear with square, dropped shoulders looked strong but not overpowering. Pants were cut to sit right at the waist or slouched down. Thick braids in multi-colored threads—for example, rich chocolate and royal blue—were worked to appear slightly random rather than matching, sometimes with a cumulative effect to mimic a fabric curtain.
And because bold shapes call for statement jewelry, the designer presented large, organic-looking pieces in handcrafted aluminum, a continuation of last season’s experiments with wood. The earrings looked especially amazing and luckily are lighter than they appear.
