Red-hot Paris label Lanvin serves up sumptuous camper chic

Lanvin’s man sports camper chic

PARIS — Lanvin delivered Sunday a ravishing fall-winter 2010-2011 menswear collection for the discriminating camper that infused billowing coats and oversized rucksacks that looked ready for an Alpine trek with a stiff dose of Parisian glamour.

Lucas Ossendrijver, who designs the menswear line under artistic director Alber Elbaz, layered utilitarian pieces like oversized sweaters, rain-slickers and calf-high boots with slim-cut pants or flowing wide-legged trousers.

Rugged military drab prints were mixed with sumptuous silks and fine wool, with a sprinkling of sequins and flashes of gold lame adding a sumptuous feminine touch. Wide leather corsets, like variations on weightlifters’ belts, were cinched tight over blazers or pillowy trenches.

“For me, it’s really about protection,” Ossendrijver told The Associated Press in a post-show interview. “This season, we did a lot of coats, round coats like cocoons, that are meant to protect the wearer from the world.”

Elbaz put it even more succinctly: “We make clothes for fashion lovers, not fashion victims.”

Discordant soundtracks — including Dolly Parton singing “I Will Always Love You” over a thumping techno beat — dueled over the loudspeakers as the models marched down the gleaming white catwalk.

At the end of the show, they lined up against wall, as if for a military review. The audience, packed into bleachers, exploded into hoots of enthusiastic approval.