Jacquemus F/W ‘20

But the self-doubt led Jacquemus back to his beginnings, to his first piece—the skirt he created at age 7 for his mother in 1997, out of the linen curtains in their house. It’s the piece that inspired the latest coed collection L’Année 97, shown last weekend in Paris. “I wanted to come back to this idea of clothes that could be sophisticated yet minimal and pure. I wanted lots of linen. I wanted pieces that could be worn forever.”

Jacquemus delivered on every promise with L’Année 97. Each piece is body-conscious yet casual, in the sense that the designs hinge on highly accessible silhouettes and on-trend cuts (and cut-outs—see below). These may be your typical hot girl and hype boy outfits, but they’re as sophisticated as they are sexy, thanks to the limited range of colors and fabrics. 

In fact, the sex appeal may be the single most enduring thing to carry through Jacquemus’ collections. If last season’s lavender fields referenced how inextricable the lavish, eternally youthful lifestyle is from the Instagrammability of the brand’s (and Jacquemus’) identity, this season’s more stark venue à La Défense left a lot of room for the clothes to speak for themselves. Naturally, they had to be hot. 

And who better to represent total hotness than the Hadids? Possibly more reported upon than the clothing was the presence of Bella and Gigi walking in near-matching, neutral-colored and bias-cut slips. Other models sported equally flattering and faded dresses, blazers, and thigh-high boots. Later on, the show picked up with baby blue and bright pink suits and sets reminiscent of Jacquemus’ trademark showiness.

So in short, Jacquemus has no reason to be ashamed in the wake of a flirtatious, if familiar, show, and we could probably find him languishing in the French countryside, being fed grapes and fanned with a fig leaf, celebrating the collection, as he can deservedly do.