Growing up in a fishing village on the Brittany coast left Julien Dossena with a lifelong affinity for nautical styles like sailor-stripe shirts and pea coats.
Those outdoor-friendly wardrobe staples permeated his pre-fall collection for Rabanne, though he sidestepped pastiche by mixing them with his own ‘70s-tinged bohemia and grunge signatures.
After all, who else can turn out a collection that includes a yellow oilskin jacket made with Guy Cotten, purveyor of all-weather gear for professional fishermen, alongside a wisp of an evening dress combining gold chain mail and black lace?
The collaboration also included a black raincoat with a detachable silver lining — a wink to Rabanne’s history as a pioneer of Space Age style — as well as waterproof mini duffel bags and bucket hats.
Less technical, but still in the seafaring spirit, were items like a jacket with graphic rope toggle buttons, a striped sailor-collar hoodie in neoprene jersey, or faded surf T-shirts with a piercing detail at the waistline.
“They are the kind of pieces, obviously, that I grew up with, that I wore and that I saw my whole family wearing,” Dossena said during a preview. “So it’s about how I adapt them to what I’m doing now, and how they speak to me personally.”
From his outdoorsy upbringing, he’s kept a laid-back attitude to glamour. A lace-trimmed baby-doll dress might be topped with the sort of sensible cardigan favored by Queen Elizabeth II for country walks, while printed blouses were mixed with mannish outerwear, like a vintage-style cognac leather motorcycle jacket.
Beachwear and evening dresses alike were designed to carry the wearer from day to night. They included crochet separates woven through with metallic beads, glistening chain-mail pareo skirts, and slinky jersey dresses with swimsuit-inspired cutout details.
Terry-cloth tops and skirts with graphic stripe details brought to mind Sonia Delaunay’s knitwear designs from the 1920s, while a sky-blue floral pattern was lifted from an iconic image of Kurt Cobain in a vintage dress, featured on a 1993 cover of The Face magazine.
Accessories include new versions of the brand’s signature 1969 bag decorated with shells, nautilus-shaped archival earrings, and necklaces with anchor pendants.
These days, Dossena only makes it back to the picturesque beach resort of Le Pouldu twice a year, though you know what they say: you can take the man out of the sea, but you can’t take the sea out of the man.
