JULIEN FOURNIÉ Spring/Summer 2015

February 1, 2015

By Marcellous L. Jones

Photos Courtesy of Julien Fournié

Paris, France – The new couture collection by Julien Fournié starts as a great contrast to the work that he performed six months ago. Instead of an immediate dominiation by the large volumes, we find tightly fitted pencil skirts with splits and high waist cuts. Immediately, an air of sophisticated emerges.

Spring/Summer is the season that always seems best suited for the designer’s propensity to work with all the elements that we love: softness, fluidity and elegance. On that note he created an amazing dress in taupe silk crepe. The sleeves are slim. It is draped and has a single button on the left side. He finished the look with a bit of volume for movement in the back. This is particularly beautiful as it creates an image of reverie as the woman moves through space and time.

The collection features a great number of maxi-length dresses. A great deal of them has trains. This became one of the most impressive elements of the collection. One must also appreciate the capuches that have been added to the dresses. One is a skirt at the waist with burgundy band dropped bust line long sleeves and train. Another favorite look is the wallet gown in crème with train. It has short sleeves and is embellished with 7 buttons on the left shoulder and 4 buttons placed vertically.

Jumpsuits are irrevocably a privileged piece for a woman’s wardrobe these days. And Fournié does them in abundance for Spring/Summer 2015. One should particularly enjoy the one done in prints.

The collection has beautiful accessories in the form of the shoes. They are colorful and original in their high heel form. However the flat, sports inspired shoes really broke the ambiance of ultra luxury. An eyesore, they ultimately should not have been placed in the show.

Fournié has worked extremely hard, paid his dues and has earned his legitimacy on the haute couture catwalks of Paris. But even that is not enough to prevent him from regularly making a very avoidable mistake: silhouette selection. In each of his collections there are always two to four looks that just don’t fit in well with the overall theme. But the overall quality of the collection is more than enough to have one overlook this occurrence.

As the show neared its end, Fournié went into overdrive with the presentation of several more stunning looks. Among them is the resolutely beautiful metallic grey gown with an open back and bolero shoulders, sleeves and floor length maxi skirt bottom. There is the button down printed dress with long sleeves, slim in the front and large train in the back. And finally there is the number of full bottom ballroom gowns in crepes. Together they form the most beautiful part of the collection.