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[Editor’s note: With the news that STL has acquired the Christian Lacroix brand, we’re looking back at the designer’s spring 1996 couture show. Presented in Paris on January 25, 1996, it has been digitized as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of fashion shows.]
Mona Patel broke the internet when she wore vintage Christian Lacroix to the 2024 British Fashion Awards. It was the third or so such archival sighting in a short period of time, and it confirmed a kind of Lacroix revival. The designer’s pieces are hard to come by, and this one—featuring a jeweled corset by Mr. Pearl, a frequent Lacroix collaborator—was a treasure both in its rarity and because Patel looked as if she had been dipped in a precious liquid metal (a sort of rosy silver), transformed into a metallurgist’s dream girl.
The look was worn on the runway by Honor Fraser, the aristocratic English model (and cousin of Stella Tennant) who looked like Fragonard could have painted her. It featured Lacroix’s signature pouf (whose return critics lauded). In the designer’s hands, these airy fabric soufflés (a dish that originated in the 18th century, appropriately) looked like the stuff of dreams.
“Everything was tailored for a bewitching enchantress of a fable,” wrote The New York Times’ Amy Spindler in her review of the show. Fantasy might have been in the air, yet more than half the collection hit at or just below the knee, making these numbers perfect for the charity and cocktail circuits. Grand entrances were not forgotten, however. Floating panels of chiffon added drama, as did brilliantly hued wraps that were pulled back to reveal stunning underdresses. Journalists at the time remarked on the return of the designer’s signature pouf; it was used on a number of exits, including the Fraser/Patel dress and the caged bride. The latter’s headdress was embroidered by François Lesage, who was dear to Lacroix; the designer called Lesage a “couture grandfather [to whom] I owe so much.”
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