PALL AS
THE TAILORS
There’s a power in slipping into a sharp suit or slinging a men’s
pinstripe blazer over a short dress, then slinking off to say, a French
nightclub or post-10pm dinner. Even more so if it’s in a deep midnight
blue, with the sheen of black satin lapels or sexed-up Pepto-Bismol
pink, though their makers, Daniel Pallas and Véronique Bousquet,
know this isn’t for everyone. “When you dress somebody and they say:
‘Oh no, it’s for a wedding, I can’t wear a pair of trousers’ you’re back to
the reality of the business,” says Pallas, who relaunched his father’s
54-year-old Parisian atelier with wife Bousquet as a tuxedo label
in 2012. Their suits, though, change women’s minds. “We explain
that you can be desirable in a tuxedo,” says Pallas, in whose atelier
a meticulously tailored piece is crafted from start to finish by one
artisan. The pair’s most convincing case is
their play on masculin/féminin. “You can be the
sexiest woman in the world, or the most boyish
girl,” says Pallas. “It just depends if you want
boys to line up behind you or not.” AB
SONG FOR THE MUTE
THE MEN’S-TURNED-
WOMENSWEAR DESIGNERS
Well, who hasn’t borrowed a jacket, a
shirt or a jumper from their boyfriend’s/
husband’s/lover’s wardrobe? Song for the
Mute may have started life in 2010 as a
menswear label, but for autumn/winter
’15 it has added a capsule womenswear
collection. It has all the unique twists
and turns of its menswear – and shows its
love of chunky, grope-able materials with
wool; needle-punched and softly padded
cottons. Lyna Ty and Melvin Tanaya, the
duo behind the label, work closely with
Japanese and Italian mills developing
original fabrics. The international stockist
list for a first collection is nicely
impressive and here in Australia includes
David Jones and Harrolds, with its
fabulous new luxury womenswear
mini-department store, where the label
will rub shoulders with Saint Laurent
and Balenciaga. The crisp shirting,
mohair and wool tailored coats are
fitted enough to be womanly, but still
tailored enough to be boyish, tomboyish.
All up, it’s an open invitation to join
the boys’ club, girls. Alison VenessPallas designers Véronique
Bousquet and Daniel Pallas.Pallas
waistcoat,
$1,420.Pallas blazer,
$2,365. All
from http://www.
Net-A-
Porter.com.Lyna Ty and Melvin
Tanaya of Song
for the Mute.Pallas pants,
$1,420.80 – MAY 2015
in VOGUE
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