In order to achieve the best results, Jeanne Lanvin takes the time to develop original colors in the dye factory in Nanterre, and personally creates Lanvin's own embroidery and bestry in the studio at 22 Faubourg Saint Honore.

Laure Harivel, head of the Heritage department, who has been with Lanvin for 15 years, says: "Jeanne Lanvin is undoubtedly the name that must be given to Parisian embroidery and beading.

It is a model of pure hand-made or machine-made, traditional or innovative. I recently came across an early VOGUE that said Lanvin had an unquestioned ability to bring simplicity and lightness to gorgeous embroidery."

Laure, who is immersed in the archives every day, no doubt knows Lanvin very well. She says she spends most of her time in Jeanne Lanvin's office, which was designed by Eugene Printz in 1931 and remains almost unchanged today, not only with the original furniture, displays, fabrics, and so on. There are also hundreds of collections from the 1910s, more than 10,000 embroidery samples, iconic dresses from the 1910s to the 1920s, and so on.

"My mission is to learn as much as I can about Lanvin's history. To preserve, enrich and pass on Lanvin's past, as well as to inspire the present and future. I am very fortunate to work for a house that values its past and is willing to make a strong connection to the brand's vision today, researching and preserving its outstanding heritage."

Laure shared with us a few fashion illustrations from the archive, which are from 1925 and show Lanvin's most iconic design, "robe de style."

The design of this low waist line wide skirt has a full sense of the court, making the wearer easily jump into the focus of the crowd, but not too much restriction of the body shape, wear will not be difficult to move, as much as possible to sway, so it is loved by women at that time.

This silhouette is not exclusive to any brand, but Lanvin's precise control of fabric, craft and cut led VOGUE to declare in its October 1924 issue: "Jeanne Lanvin's 'robe de style' has been so successful that people are now using the term 'Lanvin dress' to describe these fluffy dress styles."

At the end of 2019, the current creative director Bruno Sialelli, who has been in office for less than a year, came to Shanghai to attend the unveiling of the exhibition "Dialogue: Lanvin 130 Years". His first collection, the Autumn/Winter 2019 collection, was placed alongside Jeanne Lanvin's iconic design, with matching elements such as bows and Lanvin blue to string together the story.

Judith Clark, the exhibition's curator, explains the twofold intention: "To show how Bruno Sialelli, his successor, will look at the past and bring a new perspective to the brand, while retaining the reverence and respect for the founder Jeanne Lanvin."

Sialelli also said, In order to create a dialogue between the past and the present, it is only natural to introduce the products of the present. Juxtaposing my collection with the classic Lanvin collection is a sublimation for me, and helps the viewer better understand how the DNA of the past informs the creative practices of today."

Since then, Sialelli has never stopped looking for the past in his work. He has made no secret of his penchant for the 1920s, as his Spring/Summer 2021 collection at Yu Garden in Shanghai opened with three iconic robe de style pieces, the first of which was adorned with a beaded bow at the waist, almost identical to Jeanne Lanvin's original version. And the second diamond patterned coat immediately takes you back to Gatsby's great party.

These works do not look out of place in the brightly lit night scene of Shanghai, and a dialogue has been continued for a century.

Such connections can be dramatic or ingenious, such as the "Melodie" jewelry line, which debuted in the early spring 2023 collection, named after a series of dresses released by Jeanne Lanvin in 1921.

Today, Lanvin doesn't rely on his own inexhaustible source of inspiration to give up thinking about the present.

Last summer, the brand solemnly announced a "reboot", and the subsequent release of the spring/summer 2023 collection can indeed be called a "makeover".

The most explicit associations with the '20s, Art Deco and Jeanne Lanvin have faded, and a lighter, more down-to-earth everyday wardrobe has emerged.

But if you look closely, the loose, thin mesh vests and dresses, the "robe de style" that preserved the silhouette but shortened the hemline, the exotic patterns on the shoes and bags, the different shades and shades of blue, the bow-like but smaller and simpler decorations throughout the collection, are all small signals buried at the time of creation. Waiting for someone with a heart to start this journey back.

Perhaps this is the meaning of the past, no one can deny that Lanvin has a strange 20 years, without too much emphasis, it will always be shining in the memory of the charming halo.