Given we don’t have that much of it these days, how about some good news for a change? But first, the backstory: Young French designer decides to start his own label while still working the day job (operating out of his walk-up apartment) and shakes the dice of fortune to see where they land. The designer is Antonin Tron, his label is Atlein—a virtual primer in the myriad ways you can cut, drape, and construct jersey. That act of striking out on his own was in early 2016. What a difference a year can make. Tron won an ANDAM First Collections Prize last July; retailers like Neiman Marcus and Ikram snapped him up; and now he’s in competition for the 2017 LVMH Prize.
Oh, and the dice have been shaken again, because Tron decided to show on the runway for the first time. For a designer who has a razor focus on the scalpel-sharp techniques of how to work with one of fashion’s most notoriously tricky fabrics (and pretty much works solely with it), putting on a show is a gamble, particularly when one’s label’s raison d’être is technique and is virtually denuded of any flashy styling tricks or gimmicks to give you a little catwalk frisson. And when you’re dealing with jersey, there’s no place to hide—whether you’re a designer or, let’s be entirely frank, the woman wearing it. So luckily for Tron, his gamble worked beautifully. Rather than have the eye distracted by stunt casting or a veneer of hipness layered on by a stylist, he did what he always does: He showcased his exemplary skills in manipulating jersey to a dazzling grown-up effect. There were plenty of the bias-draped dresses that he has done from the very beginning, now worked with an almost sari-like drape that bisected the upper body and exposed a contrast ribbed top, or worked with inset panels of silk jersey into a fluid, tweedy material that was—yep, you guessed it—more jersey.
In fact, save for the great body-contouring viscose patched knits (best as a black square-neck sweater worn with lean ribbed pants), everything here was done in the material that begins with j. (Guys, seriously, how many more times can I type the word in this review? C’mon.) It was fused and then tailored into strict-shoulder jackets that stayed close to the body, finishing at the coming Fall season’s new preferred length—a three-quarter point that hits the mid-thigh—or rendered as a floral, almost flock-effect jacquard for asymmetric hemmed skirts and dresses that contrived to be one part romantic and one part athletic. If there’s any quibble, it’s that Tron could have upped the color a little more, as he played mostly with black or sober tones. But the pleasure to be had from a designer simply and quietly showing what he can do well? It’s a win all the way.
