Marine Serre’s Greenest Season Yet: Spring-Summer 2022
Marine Serre Presents Her Greenest Collection Yet for Spring/Summer 2022
On Monday evening at Les Jardins d’Olympe in Le Marais, Marine Serre revealed her most sustainable collection to date. The 53-look Spring/Summer 2022 lineup, titled Fichu pour Fichu, included an introspective, cerebral film dubbed Ostal 24. Both would examine our individual needs for isolated personal time (whether voluntary or otherwise) and our interactions with external entities, be they people or the planet. The remarkable achievement of a 90% green collection, especially from an independent label, is notable in and of itself; that Serre can also create such a distinct, human visual language in her clothes and impart a greater sphere of concept is all the more impressive. (Also: she will likely score well on Paris Fashion Week’s new environmental, social and economic impact measurement tool, which has been rolled out in full this season.)
Fabrics often associated with domestic chores, such as a polychrome terry torchon, have been upcycled into garments and accessories alike. Nubby and patchworked and at ease, there was a real sense of being grounded in one’s household—a place where we all, likely, spend the highest percentage of our time, so what better a location to take note of sustainability? Serre’s dishrag flowers, washcloth stripes, and colorful cloth weaves also gave off a sense of warm everyday familiarity. On the leg of a loose-fitting pyjama pant, one will see a printed panel of framed dog paintings next to Country Kitchen florals next to a generic Op-Art scheme. To this writer, the garment brought back memories of sitting with my grandmother when I was just ten years old, watching her slowly and methodically sew together pajamas for my siblings and I. It does feel more and more rare in fashion, these days, to recognize something so universal yet so intimately deep in clothing design.
Fichu pour Fichu is arguably Serre’s most artisanal in context, and, while she has gained worldwide fame in particular for her slick, second-skin suits that feature her house’s crescent logo, it’s also pretty downright wonderful to observe her assertiveness across aesthetics. The crescents are still there, yet are now also found on, for example, panels of washed denim that are dyed the hue of a roseate gloaming. Serre has astutely built her world, and it’s one that we should aspire to inhabit. From environmental considerations to assessing human nature to applying real design focus and rigor, it all can be said in one word: it’s thoughtful.