The Lindeberg’s Baby: Paris 68

MARCELLA LINDEBERG

Strength, modernity and beauty are the buzzwords Marcella Lindeberg uses to describe she and husband Johan’s new luxury women’s wear line, Paris 68. An extension of the power-couple’s Soho-based creative consulting agency of the same name, the line’s title, which alludes to the 1968 rebellion in Paris, is certainly a loaded one. But Marcella stresses that it’s a nod towards the future rather than a reference of the past. “I think that for a date, a location and an historical event it’s very interesting,” explains the designer, who has looked forward to creating the collection for over 2 years. “For one, it’s Paris, which I love aesthetically and taste wise. And then ’68 is a symbolic date. It marks a shift from one way of doing things to the next.”

Inspired by Marcella’s Italian upbringing, which was split between a stark Milan and the scenic Tuscan countryside, her fascination with classic Parisian chic and Michelangelo Antonioni’s first color film, Il Deserto Rosso, the collection fuses the elegance of French fashion with a hard, industrial edge. An eroded palette of dusty greys, pinks and metallics, along with a range of looks that resemble “modern armor,” emphasize the collection’s utilitarian influences, while capes, mohair-embroidered leather jackets, precise tailoring and hand-embellished skirt-legging hybrids incorporate elements of couture.

Produced in New York and Florence so as to support both local industry and Italy’s quickly disappearing breed of old-world craftsmanship, the line is a complete embodiment of Marcella’s tomboy-by-day, lady-by-night tastes. The 30-look inaugural collection is set to launch during New York Fashion week on February 18, just a day after the William Rast Show (the husband wife duo are consultants on JT’s denim line). Needless to say, Marcella is more than excited to reveal her fall looks. Not only because it will end the gnawing anticipation that accompanies any Fashion Week debut, but because, according to Marcella, Paris 68 provides “the kind of freedom that allows me to actually dream.”