Fashion Wire Daily March 8, 2005 - PARIS - In a Paris season dominated by a return to sophisticated chic, the collection Lanvin presented on Sunday took a surprising tack — the change of direction emphasized commerciality more than creativity.

In just three years, Lanvin’s designer Alber Elbaz has quadrupled fashion sales and made the house’s shows absolute must-sees. Anyone who was anyone in fashion attended his show in the covered courtyard of the Beaux Arts, and most of those waited patiently to congratulate him post show.

But where his previous outings for Lanvin have been all about tattered hems and lived-in looking fabrics, this show was focused on creating a precisely finished fall wardrobe for the stylish shopper.

Snug jackets flared at waist, tulle cocktail dresses with a signature flared skirt or authoritative razor sharp taffeta trenches all made for the kind of clothes retailers love on their shelves, and refined women on their bodies. Also excellent were a pale mink coat with flared lapel with an interwoven crystal belt or a sensational black wool coat worn by Natasha Poly.

These all passed the first date test: what man wouldn’t want to escort a young lady out to a gallery opening and dinner in these clothes?

Made mostly in black or ecru, with occasional flashes of red or midnight blue and two remarkably striking looks in huge Photoshop floral prints, the collection never quite hit the heights of Alber’s more avant-garde shows of last year.

But with rumors bubbling around that the Taiwanese investors behind the house may be mulling a sale, this was certainly a collection that will upgrade the value of the label.