She is young, free, rock ‘n’ roll and… Parisian. Madly so. With an air of Bob Dylan’s je ne sais quoi, she leaves an underground concert somewhere along rue Saint Benoit. Wrapped up in an oversized cashmere cardigan, her “new coat” hiding a stuffed leather miniskirt paired with a finely knit sweater and metallic python leather Mod boots, the evening ends.
Just as she arrives home, she decides to go on a new nocturnal adventure. Ever the night owl, she doesn’t fail to honor her counterculture soul, it’s there – under cropped leather pants, beneath a double-sided knit top and warmed by a fur jacket, multicolored as if stained with paint. Along with a quilted felt hat adorned with feathers and chic frayed edges, she grabs her “Genesis” bag, reminiscent of a guitar’s shoulder strap, and melts into the city night.
No this isn’t an excerpt from a modern day Bonjour Tristesse. This is the description of the woman everyone envies. Carefree, badass, but most importantly, Parisian. This woman is of the Zadig & Voltaire variety circa Autumn-Winter 2015-16, where being a rock star won’t be about the drinking, drugs or sex. It will be within you, spreading like a virus with every leather dress, rabbit knit, and grommetted belt you wear.
Created by Cecilia Bonstrom, she ensured the collection allowed one to manipulate the “basic laws of chic”. And from what we’ve seen over the past seasons, it’s time to flip the script on AW norms. It’s cold enough outside, and though the graying skies don’t make getting out of bed any easier, it doesn’t mean wardrobe colors should match the banality of it. Bring us more yellow sweaters, speckled blue dresses, and multi-colored scarves. Bring us old, than new, and old reinvented like the “Skinny Love” bag of colored python leather with a studded shoulder strap. Bring us more cashmere, leather, raccoon, fox, and flecked alpaca. Damn it! Bring us a collection that silhouettes gives us mullet like potential (business in the front, party in the back), without the actual mullet.
Lucky for us, Zadig & Voltaire has encapsulated the style we’ve been searching for. Now if we can just get these items in our closet immediately.