This was the 10th Paris womenswear present within the cutely distinctive Julien David narrative: His is a label conceived in France however completely manufactured in Japan, the place he lived for a decade. Seven years after launching, he has 100 stockists and says that 40 p.c of his gross sales hail from the nation by which his garments are made.

So it appeared proper and correct that in the present day’s assortment was a mild exploration of the similarities and variations between his two residence nations. The variations have been articulated most clearly in his contrasting use of sunflower and cherry blossom prints or workwear-lean jackets and carpenter coats and pants. The panniers on asymmetrical-pleat skirts might have been sourced from Marie Antoinette’s wedding ceremony gown or Dior’s Bar go well with and served—in the event you stretched it a bit—to provide a Gallic model of the decorative exaggeration ohashori.

There was loads of denim—in dungaree attire, extra carpenter coats, topstitched denims, and appealingly curve-leg, four-button pants. Nîmes, France, is the place legend has it this most ubiquitous cotton twill originated, and regardless of the function of North American teenage tradition in ubiquitizing denim, it’s (arguably) Japan the place a few of in the present day’s most interesting high quality is milled. David’s is from Okayama.

Vinyl laminated over embroidery on elastic-cinched, flute-hipped T-shirts, fleur-de-lis fil coupes, undone Brigitte Bardot bustiers as outerwear, and resin-backed cotton crop tops have been among the many additional passing pleasures right here. The soundtrack was a willfully unusual collision of “Needle within the Hay” and “Brush Your Enamel,” whereas the mustachioed gentleman on a silk jacquard romper worn beneath a full black skirt and bustier was Henri, the designer’s grandfather. This was Jean de Florette meets Swept Away, marinated in David’s private preoccupations. Collectively these components made for an fascinating and quietly progressive pot-au-feu. Or nikujaga.