ONE FOR ALL
Bruno Sialelli
after a particularly turbulent few years, lanvin has enlisted BRuno SIalEllI to lead the charge for the french fashion label’s lines in both womenswear and menswear. melissa twigg meets the designer to find out how he plans to bring the label back to peace and prosperity
Ina ripped canary-yellow shirt with ruler-sized strips torn out of it, bulbous rings on each finger and scuffed trainers on his feet, Bruno Sialelli looks like the aesthetic opposite of the evening wear-focused Parisian mai son he’s been tasked with saving. Aged just 31, this previously unknown designer took the reins of Lanvin earlier this year and now oversees both the womenswear and menswear collections for the storied brand.
We meet in Lanvin’s plush showroom on Rue de Boissy d’Anglas in Paris, steps away from the old-world grandeur of Place de la Concorde, the Hotel Crillon and the archives where Jeanne Lanvin once worked. Sialelli is dressed for the ultra-hip districts in the north and east of the city rather than these expensive surroundings. But the moment he starts speaking in his heavily accented, almost poetic English, it becomes clear that he not only carries the weight of his new role comfortably, but relishes the task ahead.
“Being young is an asset,” he says. “It brings you optimism and an open mindset – I don’t think you should ever be rigid in your creativity, as creativity means being experimental and taking new directions. To be honest, I think the brand needed to become a bit younger. It was important for me to connect with my generation and move away from the stereotype that Lanvin is all about formal eveningwear.”
Under Sialelli, Lanvin is emerging from the most difficult time in its 130-year history. In a series of events that might leave even the characters of Game of Thrones perturbed, we saw Alber Elbaz leave acrimoniously in 2015 after 14 years at the helm. Bouchra Jarrar came next, but resigned after 16 months, and her successor, Olivier Lapidus, lasted half that time. Lucas Ossendrijver, who headed up the menswear division for 14 years, left last November – and not of his own free will.
Enter Sialelli, the trainer-clad guardian angel from Marseilles on whom everyone’s pinning their hopes. Previously in the men’s division at Loewe, his career is impressive for one so recently out of their 20s, with a CV that includes Acne Studios, Paco Rabanne and Balenciaga. And while taking over a famous but flailing brand is the kind of make-or
break career move that would have most people dialling their therapist, Sialelli seems remarkably sanguine.
“The challenge is big, of course – that’s what everyone thinks, it’s factual, so I’m happy to say it,” he says. “My task is to recontextualise this entire house, taking into account the very difficult last four years. Nobody around me is putting more pressure on myself than myself, but the pressure is very positive, and I’m calm. I mostly feel excited about what I can do. It’s fair to say that over the last four years this house stagnated and waited to be reinserted in the game. That’s what I’m here for.”
His confidence isn’t misplaced. The response to his ready-to-wear women’s collection in February and his menswear in June have both been overwhelmingly positive, with critics applauding the way he intertwined the life and travels of Jeanne Lanvin with a modern-luxe aesthetic.
The womenswear collection included wool jackets with sailor collars and leather ties, double-hemmed kilts in mismatched checks, checked blanket ponchos, uni-gender jumpers and minidresses, and shirts featuring Babar the elephant – a cartoon character much loved by Lanvin herself.
In the menswear collection, we saw tapestry-like knitwear and beaded embellishment that also referenced Jeanne Lanvin’s work. Like many people of his generation, Sialelli is breaking down strict divides between menswear and womenswear: models of both genders have walked in all his collections and fronted all his campaigns to date.
“Gender isn’t at the forefront of my thinking,” he says. “My focus is on the DNA of the brand and the meeting between me and the house. Gender fluidity is a fact. Personally, I don’t ask myself the question, ‘Is this for men or women?’ I often wear pieces from womenswear. Everyone around me dresses this way, it’s the modern way.”
Which proves that while the exact direction of the brand still hasn’t been fully established, Sialelli has injected a major dose of youthful cool and sex appeal back into the maison. Does he believe he’s made Lanvin – a brand that lost its way for a dangerously long time – relevant again?
“Relevance? Who can possibly define that?” he replies, with a particularly heavy Gallic shrug. “It takes decades to post-rationalise what’s been done and decide if it’s been relevant. What sounds relevant now can be really disgusting in a closer or longer timeline. But I feel my work so far has been understood, which is very encouraging.”
And with that, he kisses me goodbye and walks out into a white-hot midsummer afternoon in Paris, the strips of his canary-yellow shirt fluttering in the hot wind. Lanvin’s relevance, branding and future stability are all resting in the hands of this immensely talented millennial; what exactly he does with that power will be worth paying attention to.