Julie de Libran generally presents during couture, but she’s been quietly growing a ready-to-wear business, including leather envelope clutches and jewelry, by appointment from her jewel-box of a boutique on the Left Bank.
On a recent visit, she presented a concise edit of what she calls travel-ready options, such as impossible-to-wrinkle separates in marigold or blue hammered silk from a fabric maker in Lyon, a fitted pantsuit in chocolate corduroy or a crinkled summer wool check with silk lining.
Picking up a fine caramel-colored sweater and skirt set, she recalled learning about the importance of making “utilitarian” clothes during her tenure with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton. “He taught me why a uniform is so important—something you reach for because it makes you feel good, you know it fits properly, and you never have to overthink it,” she said, adding that said mindset is her “American side.” For her French side, “it’s all about the balance,” meaning a halter blouse with a lace-trimmed black skirt, a white denim gilet, a safari jacket and Supima denim vest or trousers in dark wash or white.
Where De Libran has really set down a footprint is with coats. This season she offered several, from a spare, single-breasted car coat in anthracite double-faced cashmere scored from Nona Source Paris to a revisited pea coat made from dark denim and a leftover swath of couture jacquard, a stylized floral motif in rich, satiny shades of burgundy and forest green. Hybrid pieces are a hallmark of spring, and here the designer delivered with a beige bonded cotton coat with couture sleeves in a camo print shot through with bronze lamé; it was engineered to be reversible (its other side is khaki).
Carry-overs include a cashmere coat with a drop collar—in black, coffee or moss green—that can be belted over an evening dress or worn loose over jeans. Now that she has an office in New York, De Libran also uses hers as a blanket on her ever more frequent trips. “I love the styling part,” the designer said. “Everything I have folds and travels so well my sister calls me Mary Poppins. I love that it’s not about a destination, it’s about how you feel.”
