BACK IN BLACK: Slowly, surely, Norman Mabire-Larguier continues to build his architectural, all-black couture proposal. In his third-floor workshop at Les Ateliers de Paris, where he is nearing the end of his two-year residency, Mabire-Larguier hosted one-on-one appointments with clients and the press, all the better to talks guests through his creative process.

The Norman designer — no pun intended, he was born in the same town as Christian Dior — has a very much hands-on approach, sculpting his craft-intensive, chrysalis-like creations by hand with the help of one or two assistants for parts of the year and managing PR and branding by himself to maintain a personal touch. “I don’t want to become a big couture house, it’s intentionally confidential and artisanal,” he explained.

As such, he continues to expand his proposal piece by piece, with new designs intended to reference older creations. “They talk to each other,” he explained.

Mabire-Larguier does not design for a specific gender, and his early pieces were largely shaped for masculine bodies, but as he grows his reach, recent pieces have a more feminine inspiration.

Newer designs in the showroom included elongated pencil skirts inspired by the structure of traditional wool coats, turned around with the back of the collar highlighting the waist and the lapels revealing the small of the back. “The back embodies a sensitive, elegant sensuality,” Mabire-Larguier believes, something he has often articulated in his designs.

The skirts were done alternately in heavy wool crêpe or covered in sequins, with the material informing how they were made, a key element of the designer’s approach.

As he continues to cultivate his bespoke clientele, the sequin style was recently worn by Chinese singer Chris Lee, or Li Yuchun, on stage, paired with a satin blouse with square shoulders and wide sleeves.

The highlight of the collection was a sculptured gown with pointed hips and a long, narrow train, also revealing the back and worked in two iterations, one in organza and its “evil twin” in wool twill. While the shape was the same, the different fabrications involved very different techniques, he explained.

To highlight his creative process, instead of a look book, Mabire-Larguier showcased the toile of his design on a dummy at the entrance to the studio, with pattern-marks and pins on show, all the better to signify the technique involved in its elaboration.

Also new were the designer’s first jersey pieces, with draping departing from the rear and enclosing the shoulders, open on the midriff and sculpted around the hips. One of these designs featured an underlayer enveloping the bust with a special treatment solidifying the fabric and giving it an almost liquid sheen. Each took around six weeks to perfect.

Inside the studio, explorations in texture were on display, with embroidery experiments with silk organza given the look of feathers and plastic sheeting woven. “Each material guides the piece, not the other way around,” said Mabire-Larguier.