Peter Copping’s new dawn at Lanvin
Peter Copping’s appointment to the position of artistic director of Lanvin last June sent hopeful reverberations through an industry in the midst of many changes and shifts, in terms of both creative directorships and a collective redefining of luxury. Succeeding the inimitable Alber Elbaz, who left the house in 2015 and sadly died in 2021, Copping is a beloved designer with the talent to match. He worked at Sonia Rykiel, as well as at Louis Vuitton under Marc Jacobs and then, later, as artistic director of Nina Ricci and creative director of Oscar de la Renta. Most recently, he worked alongside Demna at Balenciaga couture.
Lanvin existed in a quiet state for several years, unmoored by the fact that it hadn’t found the right person for the top job since Elbaz. Copping brings with him a masterful hand as a dressmaker and a well-honed point of view, one that fuses the past with the present and reflects a contemporary vision of luxury that everyone is craving right now – effortless, elegant, and profoundly personal.
Copping’s autumn/winter 2025 collection of men’s (his first!) and womenswear expressed exactly that, paying homage to the house’s founder, Jeanne Lanvin, whose soft, fluid silhouettes defined an era of empowered femininity during the 1920s and 1930s. She began her career as a milliner and later, after designing one-off clothing for her daughter, began receiving requests for custom pieces. She eventually built one of the earliest fashion brands, a world that encompassed fashion, fragrance, and interiors. Today, Lanvin is the oldest French fashion house still in operation.
The wardrobe that came down the catwalk last night was a love letter to Lanvin and to her holistic aesthetic. The earthy shade of blue was her signature, and visors recalled her millinery work, but Copping made the collection his own; nothing about his honouring the classics of the house was overt or on-the-nose. “Le Chic Ultime” was a phrase coined by Lanvin, a term meaning “quintessential chic,” and with this collection Copping set in motion a modern version of that ideal, anchored by nuanced references to the past and smart propositions for the future.
You could see the history in the strips of mixed-print interiors fabrics stitched together for a loosely fitting cap-sleeve dress. It was there in the grey one-shouldered dress made of pleated ribbons (a signature embellishment of Lanvin) that hugged the bodice at an angle and were flappy at the hem. Copping’s three finale gowns were reminiscent of the past too; one in particular felt decidedly bohemian, à la Jeanne’s penchant for freedom through clothes, with black and gold lace and a billowy silhouette. The off-the-shoulder gold lamé gown with an ankle-length petal skirt was sublime, existing on a plane between old-world lavishness and present-day splendour. Nothing in this collection felt pretentious or delicate; everything was meant to be lived in, even the sequinned and crystal knits and velvet and silk separates.
Aside from the standout evening pieces, there was daywear aplenty on both the men’s and women’s sides, like thoughtfully tailored overcoats and drapey shifts, and it will be interesting to see how Copping builds on this refreshed vernacular for Lanvin. The show’s casting also incorporated models of every age, proving just how adept Copping is at cross-generational design, something of the utmost importance to the house’s founder.
“This collection is deeply personal,” Copping wrote in his show notes. “An homage to Jeanne Lanvin’s world and her sense of style. I sought to project the essence of her wardrobe today while imagining it on a cast of modern characters – which I hope you’ll enjoy to discover.” Everything he’s saying, everything he’s making at Lanvin, is just what we need right now. At its best, fashion lifts us up; it offers us a way to live more intuitively, to find comfort and joy in the little things. Copping’s Lanvin may just be the ticket to finding that bliss of style again. Le chic ultime, indeed.
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