They say the wheels of justice turn slowly. On Thursday, when the Mossi show was thrown into the mix at the hallowed Palais de Justice, on the Île de la Cité, things pretty much ground to a halt.
Mossi Traoré has never been one to shy away from a mashup of worlds. For fall, the conceit was a mock trial of his fashion, complete with judges, lawyers, jury members, journalists, witnesses, victims, police, and verdict. The idea, the designer explained, came from attending a series of civic debates organized by the Mucem museum in Marseilles, which come May will unveil an exhibition of his work to date. “I’ve had my share of misadventures in fashion,” the designer allowed. “In a way, I had to put myself on trial.”
You gotta hand it to him: It’s hard to imagine many of his peers willingly putting themselves on the stand.
Variously, Traoré’s early misadventures included filching Levi’s 501s from Printemps ( coincidentally, the department store was the first to support him once he launched his brand). Another time, he siphoned electricity from the Chanel store on the Avenue Montaigne to stage an unscheduled show on the sidewalk. In 2012, he somehow turned the Père Lachaise cemetery into a show venue and called Vogue’s Paris bureau, impersonating his own PR, to try to get Anna Wintour to attend.
Confessions of those transgressions were in ample evidence here. Judicial robes became the starting point for an enveloping draped and pleated dress, a voluminous asymmetrical jacket, and a knitted cape. One ensemble, an asymmetrical black jacket and straight pants, was accessorized with a tribute to the artist Lee Bul, whom Traoré particularly admires. Japanese tweed nodded to the fabric made famous by the grande dame of the Rue Cambon. A white parasol dress came accessorized with an umbrella. Traoré explained that the motive behind the lineup was to experiment with the weight of the fabric and movement. “For me, the fabric is like an accomplice for experimenting with new things,” he explained.
That said, this collectsion was far from the most solid case Traoré has made for himself. Good intentions aside, the outcome felt a bit rushed, a tad dispersed. And while the designer did have both the humor and good grace to find himself guilty, it begged a question: Did Traoré decide to just throw the book at himself in order to turn over a new leaf? For now, the jury is out.
