L'OFFICIEL USA Spring 2021 - Women's Spring Fashion Issue

Sam VISSER MAKEUP ARTIST “Red Alert” “Olivia Malone and I created a world of glamour met with masculinity for a lip story showcasing Dior’s new Rouge Dior collection.” Cathy KASTERINE STYLIST “Searching Time” “We wanted to capture all sides of Sienna Miller in this story—a more playful moment to something more full-on fashion. But always joyful, brilliant, and engaging.” Jon ERVIN PHOTOGRAPHER “Re:Claim” “We mixed old and new, not only with fashion but with different avenues of visual representations to help bring this narrative of a modern archive to life.” Dora FUNG STYLIST “Re:Set” “I was excited to play with all the stunning new bags from the Spring/Summer 2021 collection for this story with Corey Olsen.” Audrey WOLLEN WRITER “Window Shopping in Disguise” “There’s always more to say about money, mothers, cities, sex, work, and loss, and Amalia Ulman’s work says it in elegant, unexpected ways.”…

Marcia began with a tube dress, the now-famous TchikiBoum, designed with cut-outs down the side and meant to be worn with nothing underneath. The brand’s founder, Emma Reynaud, first pursued a career as a ballet dancer and then as a model, before becoming a fashion designer after being encouraged by her friend, jewelry designer Charlotte Chesnais. With Marcia, Reynaud says she wanted to create “a clothing brand that sublimates the body with sensuality, femininity, and eco-responsibility.” It’s an idea that is increasingly riding the wave in the fashion industry in response to our new way of consuming. But what does the designer think of the recent fascination with upcycling—the repurposing of existing clothes and textiles—which has been one of the founding principles of her 100-percent Made-in-France brand? “It’s a huge…

Before becoming a master couturier, Christian Dior dreamt of many wondrous things: astrological projections, fresh-cut flowers—a fixture of his upbringing on the coast of Normandy—and, of course, feminine beauty. He deviated from just about every assumed standard in order to materialize his vision, from his opulent debut collection in 1947, which veered so drastically from the fabric-conserving styles of the time that it was dubbed the “New Look,” to his frequent use of red, a color once reserved for nobility. Dior employed the evocative hue to liven up his shows—a strategy he referred to as his coup de Trafalgar (“unexpected event”)—and his love for red inspired him to dress not only a woman’s body but also her smile. In 1953, Rouge Dior was born, a lipstick housed in an artful…

There is nothing quite so elegant as a bouquet of roses. With I Only Love Wild Roses, Cartier’s latest olfactory collection, perfumer Mathilde Laurent seeks to rethink the archetype of the flower as a symbol of delicate femininity and rediscover the rose’s truly untameable wild nature. The normally sweet flower is interpreted in three distinct ways, from a pure pale pink rose to a punk iteration with hints of oud and musk. Pure Rose, a fresh, delicate concoction, offers the truest and most traditional interpretation of the flower. L’Heure Osée is the boldest of the bunch, an explosion of bright pink rose petals that is sure to turn heads. The daring Oud & Pink rounds out the collection, an adrogynous take on the familiar floral.…

Suzanne Lindon fiddles with two tiny pendants hanging from her neck. Handmade by the delicate Italian brand Merù Gioielli, one portrays a blue pansy flower, the other a stripper with the motto “Good Luck.” Barely visible, these little gems nod to the dual nature of their wearer: a young woman just beginning her life journey, and a more experienced, already accomplished, perhaps somewhat bruised creative. Aside from her forthcoming studies at Paris’ École des Arts Décoratifs, all of Lindon’s attention is on Spring Blossom, her directorial debut that she also wrote and stars in. The film, which was named part of the official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, tells the semi-autobiographical story of Suzanne, a young girl who falls in love with an older man. Inspired by Charlotte Gainsbourg’s…

It is said that in the early ‘60s, when Kenzo Takada left his native Japan and, after six months of travel, arrived in Paris, the first thing that he did was dance the night away. It was a moment of endless possibilities for the young designer. Even though he did not speak French—which led him to work on the wrong season for his debut fashion show—he knew an even more universal language: that of color. And so he combined his poetic sensibility with the rigor of Western cuts, articulating the dialect of nature and the vocabulary of flowers. It was a period of lightness. Even if today’s times are more pragmatic and his arrival within the brand is more thoughtful, 45-year-old Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista—appointed by LVMH in the summer…