Alber Elbaz took to extremes as he undertook work on the Lanvin Fall 2014 collection. “We used to work with intuition,” he said during a preview. “We were a dream factory. I want to go back to that dream factory that fashion was

The collection flowed throughout, sometimes via extreme volume  with abundantly proportioned dresses and coats in thick, “tribal” tweeds and others, extreme simplicity with a series of whisper-thin, washed-silk gowns in navy, black, cosmetic pink, worn under grand, feathered picture hats. Elbaz took his infatuation with fringe to the next level. The incarnations were diverse: the edging on the tweeds; jingling bugle beads outlining an easy chemise with smouldering noir aura; a coat made from tiers of dense yarn. The ideas came at warp speed: bubble-skirted slipdress; lone sleek trench; pleated fake leather dancing dresses. For every such gesture, there was a fur-embellished power lady or modernist structured flapper.

Given Elbaz’s extreme inclinations, one might have expected an extravaganza of gowns for evening. Instead, a surprise, in the form of short, crisp dresses lavished with deep-toned, color-blocked fringe, most of which swung freely for miles. Yet consistent with his solution-based approach, Elbaz kept it tangle-free by gluing broad sections to the base fabric.