Lemaire Fall 2012 Ready-to-Wear

The news at Christophe Lemaire was knitwear, which ranged from skinny ribbed essentials—some sheer like underpinnings—all the way to rugged fare like your classic army-surplus crewneck, now in mohair with satin patches. A new brick in the wall holds more sway here than it might elsewhere. That's because Lemaire isn't looking to blow your mind each season, but rather to methodically build a wardrobe, or an "alphabet of sartorial forms" as he called it. But there's subtle beauty in his workaday utility, which was on display today in twenties-inspired dropped waists and Poiret-esque coats. As with the men's collection Lemaire showed a month ago, there was an amped level of luxury here, as well as other resonances. Lemaire carried over the Donegal tweeds, patchworked neatly into a coat and even better in a back-to-front contrast suit and a sturdy felted wool peacoat. It's hardly surprising, considering the designer's womenswear is quite masculine in its minimalist, Eastern-focused way. There's something a bit millennial