Ami: Melting-pot mode in a Lego collection

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 22, 2017

America’s current relationship with France, at least  politically, may well be tense – especially when their heads of state shake hands – but in fashion there remains a deep-seated love affair.

Rarely has that friendly relationship been so evident than in the up-tempo, optimistic and transatlantic collection and show by Alexandre Mattiussi for his brand Ami.
 
Opening with bowling tops and dinner shirts worthy of a remake of American Graffiti; and continuing with khaki Mid Western jean jackets. Though these were very much Americans in Paris, who did some smart shopping in the Marais. Their haul? Great French dandy striped cotton pajama suits worn with chunky white sandals; black and white parkas with high funnel collars; or bold patent leather shorts.

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“Springtime in Paris; Paris Plage; Edith Piaf; tourists descending on France. Discovering this magnificent city and its melting pot mode. Rockabilly and street,” smiled Mattiussi post-show.
 
The mix continued in the materials and color palette; blending techy tops with jeans; and rose with deep blue, or forest green with Mediterranean blue.
 
“But all very Ami,” insisted the designer.
 
Staged on a bright purple sand catwalk on the banks of the Seine in Cité de la Mode, a complex that includes IFM, France’s premier school of fashion management. And few new fashion brands are more worthy of study than Ami, where Mattiussi has built a substantial fashion house with a large established headquarters in the 4th arrondissement. He is France’s most successful Indie designer this century.