Here’s a novelty… a one man think tank! I have been watching Mr. Simoëns since his momentary collaboration at Leonard and now that LVMH has bought a stake in his small company, my interest has been piqued. I would say that the purchase was a prescient one by Monsieur Arnault as this is a young man with ideas to spare.

Please do not think that I am touting him as a wunderkind who can do no wrong as that is certainly not the case here. What I am saying is that there are a profuse amount of ideas that can be honed and developed and what might turn into signatures for the young designer. I am intrigued by his take on the shirtwaist dress as well as the polo dress|shirt, his blatant graphic qualities, and as well as by his choice of accessories, fabrications, and color palette.

I was especially taken by the hourglass-shaped embroidered short black dress, his asymmetrical skirt draped over pants, and the apparent fascination of the fit-n-flare silhouette. Yes, there are some glaring proportional errors, but that can be easily rectified. The base is very strong and I do believe that Mr. Simoëns will be destined for great things provided that he doesn’t believe his own press and doesn’t let his ego get in the way of his talents.