Harris Reed was only 10 years old when Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” came out, but the movie made an indelible impression on his budding fashion brain.
“That was when I first learned who Manolo Blahnik was,” he said, recalling his delight at seeing a pair of Converse sneakers among Blahnik’s frou-frou shoe designs.
Reed’s fall collection for Nina Ricci offered his own anachronistic take on the French queen, the subject of a current exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
He summed up the look as “Marie Antoinette goes to Glastonbury” – though to be fair, his colorful jacquard pumps with jeweled buckles, some stretching over the knee, would be a nightmare for traipsing through the mud.
Rather, the show captured up an attitude, with a soundtrack by Blur that sent dopamine levels soaring. With their sharp jacquard pantsuits in vintage pastel florals or metallic tiger prints, you couldn’t tell if the models were heading for afternoon tea or headlining a rock festival.
And while the crinoline skirts were mostly for show, Reed thought of a few cool new ways to wear a corset. He layered an ice blue tiger print version over a black T-shirt and lacy slip skirt, and cinched a black velour track suit with a black moiré cross between a cummerbund and an obi belt.
The designer said he was inspired by longtime Nina Ricci creative director Gérard Pipart’s sketches for a ballet version of “Cinderella.” Reed’s cinched jackets with double lapels also had a costume-y feel, though they were actually borrowed from the house’s 1950s archive.
He said Marie Antoinette’s maximalism resonated amid the current gloom. “Avenues of escapism is what we’re all looking for right now,” Reed said.
“We’re in a very male-dominated space right now in the world, politically, and I think there’s a lot of toxic masculinity that’s finding its way in,” he added. “Creatively, when I talk to other designers or artists, I feel like we’re all subconsciously going towards the hyper feminine, or towards this kind of feminine energy that’s just been kind of lost.”
As the Palace of Versailles prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Coppola’s film, it’s tempting to pop a macaron, pour some Champagne, and rock out to the movie’s excellent soundtrack – corsets optional.