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Lacasse
credits Mozart with the death of men's fashion.
"In 1650," he explains, "Mozart
said to his father 'I like to wear black because it's so practical. I
can play harpsichord and travel from town to town in the same outfit.'"
For the six years that Envers has been around, Lacasse has been trying
to reverse the damage, bringing colour back into men's wardrobes, harmonizing
shades of lavender and taupe in nuances that reflect the daily moods of
the modern man. "We all go through bright and
dark periods. Imagine the adaptation that occurred in he Victorian period
when the English colonized India. The style of dress that resulted was
a beautiful hybrid. I am echoing this in my work." Lacasse
is also convinced that today's perception of transparent fabrics as inherently
feminine is the product of limited, localized trends.
The Envers label is clearly focussed on the architecture of the male body.
" I am constantly aware of a sense of volume and weight. The consistent
light weight on the shoulders - this is the balance I try to strike when
draping the body. " Lacasse's ergonomic draping techniques
take western (often pinstriped) sartorial dress codes and infuses them
with temple-like geometrical structure, employing sashes, sarongs and
appendages to facilitate personal construction. The powder-blue pinstriped
dress-shirt with versatile wraparound is beautifully tapered to the waist,
the stiff, razor-sharp lapels rising with pride. Personally hand-boiling
and dyeing the fabric allows Lacasse to test the limitations of the material,
as well as to push the envelope. Actual rice and tea are used in the Spring/Summer
2002 collection to strike the natural balance he seeks. Being market-savvy
on a global level has meant shunning the traditional 4-seasonal approach,
a realization that Lacasse made while raveling the world . A sense of
élan pervades the Envers catalogue.
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