FASHION WEEK

HERVE LEGER’S LUBOV AZRIA TELLS US HOW TO WEAR THE SPRING COLLECTION

Herve Leger will show their fall collection on Saturday, but yesterday we managed to get 15 minutes with the iconic woman behind the bandage dress, Lubov Azria, to tell us about how she’s wearing the current collection.

These are the dresses that are coming into our stores and online now, and these are the dresses that are going to show up come Saturday, because as we pointed out in our runway report last season, an Herve Leger show is full of Balck Bandage Dress

First and foremost, let’s get one thing straight: “There’s an incorrect assumption about Herve that it’s only for evening,” Lubov told me up on the 18th floor of her Times Square showroom and headquarters. “It can be worn anytime! People also assume that it should fit really tight, but personally I wear it one size bigger because I like the comfort of it while still getting the silhouette.”

Her top pick for daylong feminine ease is the flounce-hem dress. (This style goes live on our site tomorrow!)

“I would wear this with a tailored jacket and booties all day and then take off the jacket at dinner and not even think about it,” she says. “How easy is that?” She also suggests pairing this particular floral jacquard style with sneakers and a denim or leather jacket.

Speaking of just adding your favorite jacket, Lubov almost always wears Herve Leger separates.

“Perhaps because of how we show our pieces, or just the assumed way of Herve Leger, people tend to wear our collections together, as one piece. But I like them as separates; it’s almost cooler,” she says. “I would put this jacket with a pair of jeans or a work skirt. And of course it all depends on where you live, but if you’re in L.A., you just wear the skirt with a T-shirt. The great thing about Herve separates is that it adds high fashion glamour to any number of basic pieces you already own.”

She’s talking about this brilliantly navy-hued asymmetrical zip jacquard jacket and the skirt that goes with it — or doesn’t.

But of course the real way to wear Herve Leger is to wear what fits you most beautifully.

“Women really dress based on their body shape. For example, I’m very athletic. I have bigger shoulders and bigger bust and smaller in the hip area. So when it comes to Herve Leger, for me it’s really about A-line dresses because it gives me a hip but minimizes me on the top.”

While there’s no doubt that Lubov and her husband, Max, design for women everywhere, you can’t help but imagine her stamping a mini-claim on a certain white dress and capelet pair when it was in its early stages. It’s a look we can imagine every woman instantly coveting when it’s available in April.

“You can see the techniques of the knit on this style; one day we will videotape the process of how our pieces are made. They weave the base and then hand-apply everything else. And our fit is really key. These pieces are more like sweaters than anything else — they’re not cut-and-sew, they’re knits — and that’s why they fit so well. People are so surprised at how well Herve Leger fits, and I tell them it’s all about how the dresses are constructed.”

And finally, we dress for what we love too. For what we just can’t resist. Lubov, a former dancer, is a big fan of movement, so for her that signals the fringe-trimmed bandage dress.

“I love the idea of movement, but this can be especially difficult to achieve with a knit because they’re all going to be formed to the body. So we love to add movement with these bands that emulate fringe, and the shine of the beads gives a further illusion of movement.”

Oh and what was Lubov herself wearing to work yesterday as I captured all this? An Herve Leger moto jacket: the perfect synthesis of what she calls “girls run the world” power and never-stop movement.

SHOP: current season Herve Leger Gown

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