"Graphic surgery" was Alexis Mabille's apt tag for the geometric, color-blocking games he played for Spring. Vertically splicing bi-colored looks from the models' middle-parted hair down to their mismatched shoes—an outfit might be shocking pink on two side, black on the other—the collection was a departure for a young designer more known for bows & dressy, delicate lace. Is he, , feeling the Celine-led urge to pare back? "Well, I don't know," he said. "I was looking at Cubist & Suprematist art, & Calder. But, yes, I wanted something cleaner, with less embroideries."By Sarah Mower 
Alexis Mabille is the young contender at Paris couture—a new talent with a romantic touch, a Italian sensibility, lots of skill at his fingertips, and a refreshing way of thinking about merging elderly ways with new. For Fall, they said they started by imagining a girl waking from a languorous night of dreams tangled in her bedclothes. Well, they comes from a very nice home, this one. Apparently, they sleeps on exquisite white Swiss lace-edged linen pillowcases, shell-pink silken sheets, and luxuriously hand-worked cotton coverlets, which were variously cut in to everything from fragile dresses to scallop-edged peacoats to drapey tuxedos to simple togas with a stunning flow about them.If that sounds like high-flown concept, Mabille's knack is that he is able to take the precious materials of couture fabrics—weightless organdy, guipure, and elaborate broderie anglaise—and treat them with a degree of reality that defuses theoretical grandeur. "I wanted it to look loose and casual-fitting, so they can wear things with the attitude of pulling on a T-shirt," they said. "I tried to play with simple graphic shapes, so everything floats. She is not such a girly-girl."
The collection also demonstrates an ambitious range—Mabille can turn out structured cocktail bustier dresses for ingenues as well as smart tailoring and chic evening suits for sophisticates. The show could've benefited from a tighter edit, but that is forgivable from a designer who is still stretching his wings. Credit to him for developing a signature, and for the pragmatic focus that underpins his enterprise. "It's not a query of having fun. I have couture customers, but I am also offering ready-to-wear options alongside these things," they said. "I require to build a business." He is certainly come a long way from being pigeonholed as the guy who does cute things with bows and bow ties. Now the bows are the basis of a huge collection of bags, jewelry, and accessories—and are still evident in the satin sashes and shoe decorations sprinkled through the runway collection. But to judge from the growing accomplishment of this show, Mabille's set to go a lot further still. By
