In this most political of years, affairs of state were a topic largely left untouched by fashion this season. Not so at Lamine Badian Kouyaté’s Xuly.Bët show, held, as it was last time, in a passage in the Sentier, once home to the Parisian textile industry. The collection was akin to the one that preceded it, with an emphasis on printed denim. Spring’s offering was significantly larger, however, and covered all of the designer’s bases: reworked sports jerseys, wax print separates, parkas, and, of course, body loving, red-seamed stretch pieces.
Viewers were offered a hint that things were the same but different from the get-go when model Kadra Omar appeared carrying a boombox. “She used to walk for me in the ’90s and she still has that magic to lead and bring joy to the entire crew,” the designer wrote in a post-show communication. “I wanted to bring her back for her spirit of gathering and also to mix the different generations, which is the purpose of the casting.” Xuly.Bët is a family affair; this season, the designer’s niece Amissa was working behind the scenes. At a walkthrough, she shared a story from her mother who went to school with Kouyaté and remembered that he had “a completely different style from everyone else; that he would cut off his school bags and then put them on the side in a way that people had never seen before.”
Regarding the boomboxes, this editor thought that they referenced the designer’s iconic White show of 1993, in which he had models walking in the Tuileries outside of the Chanel show, each carrying her own sound system. But no. “The symbolism of the boomboxes is to bring back a sense of sharing and gathering and having fun together,” Kouyaté explained. “Nowadays everyone has their own earphones, which could be a major source of isolation and solitude for the new generations. Let’s have fun and overcome anguish.”
Kouyaté has never been a designer who lives in a bubble; rather, he’s inspired by and engaged in what’s happening on the street and in the wider world. The bright white and blue garments in the collection are made using protest banners from UNSA, a union supporting public education. No matter the season, the overarching message at this brand is look good, do good.
