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PARIS, France — You say Paco Rabanne and chain mail immediately comes to mind. This is probably why, since the beginning of his tenure, Julien Dossena has cautiously touched on the subject. Wise move, given he was after a reboot. Now that the template of the new Rabanne is firmly set, Dossena threw caution to the wind, embraced metal and it was a blast.
There wasn't only metal mesh on display of course. The other significant half was knit: thick and slouchy, sliced into dancing, asymmetric shapes. It made for a perfect juxtaposition of the organic and the inorganic, the warm and the cold. There was a pervasive air of ease to the whole effort, and an offbeat sense of cozyness. Julien Dossena, just like Paco himself, is a futurist, albeit of a wholly different kind. There is something almost raw and primeval to his work that makes it quite unique.
