After five years at the creative helm of Nina Ricci, Peter Copping wound down his term at the fashion house on a high note with a beautiful Spring 2015 collection.

Derived from a late-Forties silhouette, the neat tops and slim skirts were less retro than renewed. Based on the house’s postwar history when Madame Ricci and her son Robert made scale models of couture dresses to promote French fashion, Copping titled the show “Make Do and Mend.” The idea of customizing old clothes during tough times — along with some Louise Bourgeois textile work, just because — led Copping to lace his looks with faux improvisation techniques, like top-stitching a jacket with a contrast color as if there was no more matching thread, or fashioning a skinny belt out of three leather shoe straps.

Classic blouses were interpreted as merino sweaters with open backs came in two-toned double-face crepe — beige that reversed to pink and brown to powder blue — slit into panels; a sleeveless navy sequin tweed “jacket” was cut like a sporty tank to flaunt the shoulders; waffled and chunky knits gathered in soft georgette down the back.