PFW: Look Good In Leather. Isabel Marant Goes Country For Fall ’24
She has a knack for turning seasonal collections into über-trends, so will Isabel Marant’s vintage 80s era be the next big thing?
PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) Andreea Diaconu walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
For anyone who remembers the pure chaotic obsession of the Isabel Marant ‘Bobby’ wedge sneaker era of 2013 probably also recalls the exceptional influence the French designer had over entire wardrobes at the time. She weaponised trends with layered micro skirts, quilted jackets and embroidered pattern details (some that became the subject of appropriation issues in 2015) and turned us all into broderie anglaise enthusiasts. So, to see the queen of French Bohemia return this season with a sense of nostalgia is enough to make even the flattest sneaker-wearer arch their feet in muscle memory.
Not that the wedges are back. Yet. For Fall/Winter 2024, Marant (alongside artistic director Kim Bekker) instead tempted us with a celebration of archival leatherwear. Padded eighties jackets in cowboy browns and Arden-like reds had silhouettes reminiscent of Azzedine Alaïa’s power cuts of 1984, while loose leather trousers in snake prints – some pleated at the waist, some cinched with horse-bit buckles – delivered a modern incarnation of the 80s power-safari look we didn’t know we needed.
PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: Kiki Willems walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
What makes a Marant collection so incredibly influencing however, is not necessarily the pieces by themselves (although they are all individually expert) but their combinations. A Marant ensemble is a styling masterpiece – a brown suede anorak coat worn open over a chocolate cable knit sweater and nipped into the waistband of a pair of coffee-hued leather jeans is viscerally enticing. Not to mention finishing the look with a pair of fringed, slouch boots…but more on those in a minute.
Marant has a knack for creating trend without trying, her looks convincing us, quite easily, that next season we must wear a fringed coat or a square-cut suede vest or an oversized blouson or even a saddled leather cummerbund belt all set against the blendy perfection of a snake-print day dress. All the tones are complementary (snake prints with black accessories, khaki cargo suits with tan leather accents and monochromatic red suits) and while the shapes are upscale they are also just casual enough to be the most wearable of the season. After all, if anyone can single handedly bring back the drill-chino-tucked-into-slouch-boots look, it’s Marant.
But back to the boots. They are so cool. Loose at the mid-calf, buckled around the ankle and embellished with a little bit of country fringing just because. Suddenly you can’t imagine any other footwear for winter. And, if wedge-core taught us anything, there probably won’t be.
PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Peter White/Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Womenswear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 29: A model walks the runway during the Isabel Marant Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2024-2025 fashion show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on February 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
