Roland Mouret’s Looks of Love

LONDON, United Kingdom — "I am not what I ought to be." That kind of admission from a man — especially one who is celebrating twenty years as a fashion designer — makes you sit up and take notice.

Roland Mouret was destined to succeed his father as a butcher in the family business in Lourdes. Instead, he moved to London and opted for cutting of a different kind. His 20th anniversary sees him back in London, after nearly a decade of showing in Paris.

He’s been reflecting on what distinguishes him from the other designers in London, most of them well over a decade younger, and that reflection has clearly refreshed his French-ness. Isn’t it always the way? “Fresh, louche, sexy,” Mouret ticked off his criteria. “I wanted the girls in heels.” And fitted jacket and skirts that emphasised a Gallic va-va-voom. And sensuous wraps of satin or mesh knit slithering away on the bias.

The collection was a return to form for Mouret, literally, in that it celebrated the female body in a way he made his own with the Galaxy dress over a decade ago, and figuratively, in that you sensed he’d fallen in love with fashion again. The soundtrack was a couple of dozen versions of The Look of Love. Mouret cryptically declared the song supplemented the statement on his invitation: Give her what she’s not afraid to ask for. Give the look of love? He — and his clothes — are obviously not afraid to.