The 1920s were “definitely a very, very significant period for clothing,” says Lanvin designer Peter Copping. “So liberating. It’s probably where modern fashion’s roots really come from.”

Indeed, it’s easy to argue that the 1920s were the most transformational decade in modern fashion. Corsets were abandoned en masse, silhouettes were streamlined into glittering Deco-like cylinders, and women won the right to vote in America. Comparing our present decade to the Jazz Age is a common refrain, and lately it feels like there might be something in that. Last year not only marked 100 years of Art Deco and The Great Gatsby, but there’s been renewed energy at Copping’s Lanvin (where he’s been artistic director since 2024) and Mathieu Blazy’s Chanel—houses that defined the Roaring Twenties style a century ago.

With such history at their fingertips, it’s no wonder that both designers have been mining the brands’ rich legacies. (Blazy, for one, recently showed a Chanel resort show that opened with his take on the infamous LBD, which Vogue dubbed “fashion’s Ford” back in 1926.) Copping—who has worked at Sonia Rykiel, Louis Vuitton, Oscar de la Renta, Nina Ricci, and Balenciaga—has been infusing his Lanvin with deep dives into the archive and finding inspiration in other historical touchpoints, such as furniture and interior design.

While in Savannah for the Savannah College of Art and Design graduation show, I had the chance to sit down with Copping, who has served as the school’s designer in residence for the class of 2026. Among other things, we talked about the enduring appeal of Deco, his first foray into menswear, and how he worked with six students who designed Lanvin-inspired looks. “You can’t underestimate how important it is,” he said of his time mentoring the students.

Do you find that the 1920s were a watershed moment for women’s fashion?
It was definitely a very, very significant period for clothing—so liberating. It’s probably where modern fashion’s roots really come from, especially with what Chanel was doing at the time. Jeanne Lanvin really looked at it in terms of a modern way of dressing. She was very much into the visual—decoration and embroidery. She had two embroidery ateliers. Rather than working with Lesage or other embroiderers of the time, she wanted it all in-house. That’s great because it’s left us with a really good archive. We have all their swatches.

Do you differentiate between ’20s silhouettes and Deco?
A lot of the Deco references that I look at come from interiors. Obviously, there was a graphicism in clothes as well, but for me it was interesting to look at the furniture Jeanne Lanvin was looking at. Her bathroom, for example, which she designed with [interior and furniture designer Armand-Albert] Rateau, inspired the set for the first collection.

When I arrived at Lanvin, I was able to visit the Museum of Decorative Arts and see the rooms while the museum was closed. They allowed me to go into the bedroom, and standing there, surrounded by her objects and personal possessions, was incredible. It was a real crash course in learning, my God, this is who this woman was and this is the level of sophistication [with which] she lived her life. What I really loved about that is that she came from these very humble beginnings, and that’s an instant message to say, “You don’t have to be born into this. Style and creativity really come from who you are.” It was a really poignant moment to be in her room, not just standing behind the red rope looking in.

[For my debut,] I did some very graphic designs in lace, cutting it up into zigzags and triangular shapes, because I wanted to take a floral lace but then for it to become quite Deco-like. I haven’t really done a full-on Deco print. For the bags, we often look at Deco references, such as marquetry. The thing one has to remember about the ’20s is the craftsmanship. The level of workmanship was so incredible across whatever field, whether it was jewelry, furniture, materials, or even cars.

Peter Copping’s Lanvinisms

I have noticed a lengthening of the silhouette over the past few seasons, the lowering of the waist.
Even from the first collection, there was a lot of 1920s inspiration. Some of the pieces I looked at in the archive I used for both men’s and womenswear. Some of the ’20s, very elaborately embroidered dresses became T-shirts for a guy. The quite interesting thing about that is I know that they were bought by women as well—it’s essentially just an evening T-shirt. So that does have a parallel with the ’20s silhouette of ease.

Which really started with Poiret, who abandoned curves—and corsets—for up-and-down dresses.
Yes. There was an amazing Poiret exhibition. It was incredible. To think of what those clothes were actually like at the time, it was quite revolutionary, obviously, with what had just been before with the Belle Époque.

Lanvin traveled a lot, right?
Yes, she traveled extensively, and the last menswear collection we presented was the one...

With the Fortuny-like velvets.
That all came from a trip she took with her niece to Venice, and her niece kept the travel log. It’s amazing. It’s just a tiny little book. We still have it in the archive, and for the presentation I got glass cabinets and we actually put it in there so people could see it. [Lanvin] bought fabrics at Bevilacqua, which we still have in the archive and had re-created by Bevilacqua. It’s the oldest couture textile house still in operation.

Lanvin is the oldest couture house in existence. How do you account for that?
I wonder if it’s because it remained a family business for so long. Her daughter took over from her, and [Madame Lanvin] had a large family, and she was part of a large family, so she had a lot of brothers, and some of them were taking care of certain parts of the business. So a strong foundation was laid, allowing [the brand] to move forward. I can remember the collections of Maryll Lanvin—who was a Lanvin by marriage—from when I was first getting interested in fashion.

Who is Lanvin to you?
An incredibly driven woman. She must have been amazing. She was traveling, she was going to Venice in the ’20s with her niece, so the two women were traveling alone. Then she was doing good things, like starting a [staff] canteen and a holiday retreat for her workers for when they had time off. It was kind of a workers’ holiday camp. So she had a social conscience.

She was a milliner, and one of the first couturiers to do a menswear collection—we’re celebrating 100 years now. She also had a sports line, children’s wear, home goods, and perfumes. She was really the first lifestyle brand.

Was it a full men’s line?
She started by making children’s clothes, and that segued into making clothes for adults because women were looking at what she’d made for her daughter and saying, “I want you to make that dress for me.” So the initial part began quite organically. But then I’m sure these women were then saying, “Can you make something for my husband?” I don’t know for sure that’s how it started. I could imagine she’d have risen to the challenge. She wouldn’t have ever said, “I don’t do men’s clothes.”

Is this your first time doing menswear?
Yes, I really enjoy it, I have to say. I probably feel more comfortable doing it now than I would have if I had come up earlier.

What assignment did you give the students?
I wanted them to look into the archives to do something that felt right for Lanvin. I didn’t give them any indication of what period they had to look at, so they could have looked up to [Claude] Montana [who designed couture for the house from 1990 to 1992] or Alber [Elbaz] [at the helm from 2001 to 2015], but they all chose to go to Jeanne Lanvin’s time.

It was SCAD that asked it to be an eveningwear project, which I was quite comfortable with doing. Eveningwear can mean many things these days, so I suggested that the students think about whom they wanted to dress and for what kind of event. Cannes is very different from, say, the Met Gala. Whom they chose ranged from a Chinese celebrity to Zendaya. I’m quite tempted to get a good photograph of the Zendaya dress and send it to Law Roach because I think he’d be really up for putting it on her because it looks so right for her, in a way. And I could imagine he would quite like the idea of putting a student dress on her because it’s a bit like a fuck off to the design houses.

What did the students latch onto? What is Lanvin to them?
They were all interested in who Jeanne Lanvin was. They were looking at the clothes but also at the woman and who she was.

Lanvin-Inspired Designs by SCAD Graduates