Lecoanet Hemant. The Orientalists of Haute Couture.

The first retrospective dedicated to the Lecoanet Hemant fashion house, the exhibition Les Orientalistes de la Haute Couture promises to be a journey to the heart of a shimmering and refined fashion cultivating the art of crossbreeding, a clever blend of French and Indian cultures. The Lecoanet Hemant fashion house was born in 1979 from the partnership of Didier Lecoanet, born in 1955, who started his career at Lanvin, and Hemant Sagar, born in New Delhi in 1957. Their fruitful collaboration led them to show their work from 1984 to 2000 in the exclusive circle of Parisian haute couture. Since then, the house has focused on cosmopolitan ready-to-wear designed in India. The Lecoanet Hemant style is a poetic allure that transcends time and continents. A vision of the Orient expressed through modulations of drapery and a certain idea of French cut-and-sew. True trademarks of the house are the Indian sari, available in a multitude of variations, and references to nature in the form of prints, woven fabrics, and embroideries using original materials such as ramie and pineapple fiber. A dazzling spectacle in every way, the eighty or so silhouettes evoke the cultural heritage of an imaginary Silk Road. The exhibition unfolds in an elegant gallery punctuated by large display cases where sumptuous outfits are displayed alongside furniture and decorative objects straight out of an Agatha Christie film. Embroidered evening gowns sit alongside shawls with golden fringes, not far from opulent damask coats and other suits with elaborate draping... A delightful fashion worthy of the tales of "Arabian Nights."