alber elbaz

This August, Lanvin celebrates the joyeux 10th anniversary of Alber Elbaz at its creative helm with the release of a limited-edition accessories collection. Titled Happy, the collection features 10 mini sets — each containing a shoe, a bag, and a jewel — all designed around a specific, Elbaz-centric theme. The minicollection Les Dessins d'Alber, for example, fetes the designer's signature doodles: each piece is covered with a cartoon face or eye. Similarly, the Diamante Heart set features the house's iconic heart motif, while the Grosgrain set features grosgrain-trimmed items meant to call to mind the dapper designer's trademark bow tie.

An in-depth look at the entire collection, here in the slideshow.
Photos courtesy of Lanvin

Pajamas and athletic gear informed Alber Elbaz as he was designing his Resort 2013 collection for Lanvin — but that doesn't mean his offering this season is any less luxurious than it ever has been. Instead of making garments that simply look casual, Elbaz said he wanted to create clothing that was "as easy to wear as a tracksuit." He achieved this by taking technical fabrics — like parachute silk and materials normally reserved to make bras and space blankets — and forming them into floral print jackets, voluminous skirts and coats, and more than one deconstructed dress cinched at the waist with elastic. Elbaz also placed a new emphasis on handbags, which are shown with many looks in the collection. "I heard that bags are very important in fashion," he said.

What better way to celebrate Alber Elbaz's 10 years designing for Lanvin than with a gilded coffee-table book?

This month, Steidl will publish Alber Elbaz — Lanvin, a $450 tome filled with quotations from Elbaz and some 400 behind-the-scenes images — shot by photographer But-Sou Lai — of the work he does there.

"When the whole industry is about the six minutes of the show and a review that is being written in a taxi because then there is the next one, I thought, I'm going to show everyone how much effort goes into making a single dress," he told The Independent. "I wanted to show how many threads you have to put together to make one rose; how much thought goes into a button. I wanted to show a shoe in the factory in Italy being held like a baby by an old man and then attached to a machine as if it was going to the dentist."

Elbaz went on to say that he values craft more than fame — something that shows both in his collections and in his book. Take a glimpse of its pages here, in the gallery.

Photo at left: Elbaz with Emma Stone at the 2012 Met Gala. Gallery photos courtesy of Steidl.

Feminine opulence pervaded the Lanvin Fall 2012 collection, and how gorgeous it was. Elbaz has always stressed the importance of designing for women, and in this collection, women's curves took center stage, with the focus on the waist. The defining factors? Peplum, balloon sleeves, and lots of belting and draping, which weaved themselves mostly into dresses, but outerwear and richly-hued furs as well. The show opened with a series of jewel-hued pieces — sleek shifts with ruffled details at the neck or down the back, peplum tops paired with slim pencil skirts — then moved through a sexy series of black outfits of leather and fur fit for the edgy city chick. The final act was the most theatrical — dresses were embellished with lace and jewels, or done in rich velvet, or layered with ruffled, jewel-toned furs and accessorized with opera gloves. Finally, the jewelry: statement necklaces fit for a queen, but sure to decorate the necks of fashionable girls everywhere next season. Click to see the whole collection, as it's a beauty.

• Trends: Bejeweled dresses, peplum, ruffles, opulent dressing, belting, elbow-length gloves.
• Colors: Purple, blue, red, hunter green, gold, gray, black.
• Key Piece: Bejeweled, curvaceous cocktail dresses; the peplum tops, the jewelry.
• Accessories: Big, fit-for-a-queen statement necklaces.
• Who Would Wear It: Fashion-forward glamour girls — Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore.

>> Alber Elbaz celebrated his tenth year at Lanvin with an homage to all things glamorous — and all things Lanvin. It was colorful, sexy, confident, edgy — and them some. There were a handful of terrific coats cut in generous proportions; some were cinched at the waist with jaguar-head belts or draped in fur; all had rounded shoulders, exaggerated sleeves, and high collars. Otherwise, the collection consisted mostly of Elbaz's signature dresses. Those he cut in celebratory, curve-enhancing lines and embellished with layers of ruffles, sculptural peplums, lace appliqué, or glittering jewels. "I like dresses for night, I like afterparty more than party. I like the mystery; I like the dream, like fantasy dresses," Elbaz explained recently. There was plenty of fantasy here, but it felt plenty accessible, too. That, of course, is Elbaz's unique charm — the kind of charm that's made his 10 years at Lanvin worth celebrating. "I always say, 'If you can't eat it, it's not food, and if you can't wear it, it's not fashion, it is something else.'"