Martine Sitbon
“When It Works”
by CS Leigh

“The fashion world is full of “experts” who can tell you very casually what works and what doesn’t. That their opinions change hourly is something they can explain away by using words like “transitory” or “evolving.” However what anyone who has been watching things for a while realises is that no one knows anything, to paraphrase William Goldman on the film business. Fashion like other artforms inspired by the moment (and with ambitions toward selling well over the short term, rather than later on) relies on the feelings generated by presentation rather than representation. For all of those who “blog in” from China or Peru or even Cincinatti on occasion to say that the shows no longer mean anything in these times of mass communication, I say to them go to a great show and then tell me what you think about it. There is nothing like it when it works.

The Martine Sitbon Fall Winter 2010 show recently unveiled in Paris was one of those occasions when no one needed to explain anything. It worked. The collection and the crowd were fused in to a single performing unit, each playing its part to the hilt. Every look hit the mark in the way only a designer like Martine Sitbon can pull off after so many wonderful collections where she has done that over the years. The room was alive in a way that seldom happens in fashion. It was like a gig, a great club, or a terrific party all rolled in to one. I kept thinking the models on the catwalk for once had something to look at as well. What makes this all the more exciting is that it was not done with smoke and mirrors. It was real. This was not a fabrication of actors and other hangers-ons who were paid to be there. The audience both starry and intelligent were there by choice. Its a great feeling to know you are at the right place at the right time and it was like that there.

Nobody does it better than Martine Sitbon. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. That is what makes her a star rather than the other way round. It begins with the clothes and goes out to the crowd like a gift or an invitation to go somewhere you can only go once and that you remember for a long time. Perhaps over time the memory becomes more something to aspire to rather than something to be in any way nostalgic about. A feeling more than something tangible the memory of the event becomes an ambition.”

Above backstage shots by Sonny Vandevelde. Shoes for Rue du Mail by Kron Kron