Newly elected Academic Alain-Charles Perrot, chief architect of Historical Monuments, entrusted Lanvin with the creation of his “Immortel” outfit. This year the brand had the occasion to retie their old bonds with a tradition that dates back 113 years: the creation of custom-made suits for the “Immortels” – known in France as the “Habit Vert”. Indeed, in 1901 already, before the creation of their children’s wear department, Jeanne Lanvin was already dressing her first Academic: illustrious dramatist Edmond Rostand. Others would soon follow: Paul Valéry, André Maurois, Georges Duhamel, Jean Cocteau… Numerous are those to have had their “Habit Vert” created: the suit, like the sword, is shared by members of the Institut de France. Made of a dark blue or black piece of fabric, embroidered with gold or green (“vert” in French) olive branches, from whence it takes its name.
This is how Lanvin custom-made works: in the workshops of 15 Faubourg Saint Honoré in Paris, the creation of the precious garment requires a quantity of work that’s at the height of extraordinary. While the jacket and pants take 80 hours of work, and the shirt 12 hours, the olive branch embroideries, coincidentally designed by Monsieur Perrot himself, took close to 600 hours. And so Lanvin finds themselves designing Alain-Charles Perrot’s “Habit Vert”, through six months of meticulous work and four fittings. Custom-made Lanvin is a true feat of handmade magic!
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