Olympia Le Tan SS13

Olympia Le-Tan’s embroidered book-themed bags have been on the rise for a while now so much so that knock-offs are starting to appear, putting a dent in Le-Tan’s signature handiwork. Perhaps she should be flattered. She’s moved up a league. Le-Tan also stepped up to an on-schedule show this season but it was hardly going to be a conventional catwalk affair. How to display her main line of bags? As a preamble to the show, they were arranged in glass cabinets in the foyer of the Théâtre de la Madeleine. Le-Tan had moved on to music as her collection “7 Inch” was dedicated to her love of jazz, blues, girl bands from Phil Spector’s wall of sound. In addition to her bookish clutches, she added some new styles such as a 7” bag meant for carrying 7” vinyls if you still have them or the Macaron bag, a round clutch that has been embroidered with vinyl labels.

We were then ushered in to the bijoux theatre where we were treated to Olympia Le-Tan’s line-up of black girls that referenced those girl bands of 1960s yesteryear. They shimmied, shook and twirled around as they lip synched to Motown and pop hits such as “Please Mr Postman” and “Locomotion”. “I love the aesthetic of those videos where you see one girl singing in the front and three clapping in the back, all wearing striped dresses or lots of pink. I miss those performances,” explained Le-Tan in her press notes. She enlisted her father illustrator Pierre Le-Tan to design four prints for this retrogazing collection of cute pencil skirts, shorts, halter dresses in satin cottons, silks and summer-appropriate seersucker.

The final surprise was Ronnie Spector herself of The Ronettes fame performing “Be My Baby” to an enchanted audience. “I never actually thought I would be able to get the real Ronnie Spector to close the show, but I asked and she was up for it! It made me feel like a little girl at the best birthday party ever!”