“It’s really about the young French girl,” says Julien Dossena, who with Lion Blau and Florent Buonomano designs the new Paris-based label Atto. Then in the next breath, “We try to have a little of the Japanese wrapping technique, enveloping the body. It’s about this balance between clean and sharp and really sensual.” So it’s a bit of everything really, which, in this era of increasingly blurred borders, makes sense.
To wit, a structured, roomy mackintosh bisected by a black band and a bright yellow turtleneck with stark white panels recall the spirit of Courrèges. Meanwhile, a straight khaki skirt that crisscrosses around the waist and a crisp sleeveless white shirt with deep armholes fastened by strips of fabric hint at an Eastern influence. It’s the kind of wardrobe one could easily imagine appealing to women the world over.
“Atto is reminiscent of a sixties minimalism,” says Paola Russo, the cofounder of L.A.’s Just One Eye, who is known for spotting and nurturing young talent. “And they’ve found a modern way to interpret refined sexiness.”
In spite of their high-fashion backgrounds—the three designers met while working in the Balenciaga studio under Nicolas Ghesquière, and Dossena will show his first collection as creative director of Paco Rabanne this fall—they insist that this particular project will be less about runway-style statements on fashion and more about real-life wearability. “When you go into a department store, everything on the designer floor is super- or over-designed. We want to be accessible, but still have that creativity,” says Dossena, adding that accessories may be somewhere down the line.
So far, they seem to have struck the right note. Kirna Zabête’s Beth Buccini and Sarah Easley, who will carry the collection later this fall, say, “It’s rare that we pick up a new designer the first time we see the line.”
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