2021 will be lin

By Maud Gabrielson

Posted today at 6:00 p.m.

A succession of thin dresses with straps, wide pants worn high on the hips or pleated skirts buttoned on the side, all available in an ecru palette and in linen that we imagine ultra light. Jacquemus’ spring-summer 2021 collection, presented in the middle of a wheat field a few kilometers from Paris, in July 2020, shed light on this material that was wrongly imagined to be a bit obsolete.

In total, thirty out of the fifty-five silhouettes in the collection were thus fashioned from linen. Since his beginnings, ten years ago, the creator has enjoyed working with this material which is dear to him. I was 7 the day I cut a skirt for my mother out of a linen curtain ”, he declared, moreover, as a preamble to his previous collection.

Comptoir des Cotonniers.

Like Jacquemus, many designers have given in to the appeal of linen for their summer line. According to a recent study conducted by the European Flax and Hemp Confederation, in partnership with the fashion search engine Tagwalk, fiber has jumped 102% in spring-summer 2021 collections, compared to the previous summer. Some big names in fashion offered it for the first time in a significant way, such as Dior, Louis Vuitton or Fendi.

Linen is displayed on long loose and colorful tunics at Dior, on hybrid jackets daring to mix materials at Louis Vuitton, bias-cut blouses at Acne Studios, but also on wide and elegant trouser suits at Stella McCartney. or on a long dress sewn like a patchwork at Gabriela Hearst.

“I wanted to start the collection with the simplest and oldest material possible, which is the case with linen since the Egyptians used it to bury mummies. , explains Silvia Venturini Fendi. On the catwalk of the Roman house, it shows simple printed dresses, beige jumpsuits or white trouser suits worn loose.

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A simplicity that also resonates with young creative shoots. Mossi Traoré, winner of the 2020 Pierre Bergé prize from ANDAM, also likes the stripped down aspect of linen: It is a material that gives off a natural nobility, I mix it up a little. Linen obviously creases a lot, but I like to integrate this slackness into the collections.

Designer Alexandre Blanc, who worked for Balenciaga and Jil Sander, and who launched his brand in 2018, likes to mix it up: Used on its own, linen can have a somewhat raw rustic feel, but when mixed with silk or cotton satin it gains in shine. It brings a silky aspect to the fabric ”, he explains.

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