While taking his bow after his Balenciaga show an emotional Nicolas Ghesquiere mouthed "Sorry, sorry." If you are wondering what he was sorry for it is because of the collapse of the benches that all fell like dominos as the room filled up. After three or four crashes a voice over the p.a. system asked in French and in English for everyone to stand up and watch the show fully upright.
The presentation that began with a high fashion statement of structure and volume put this collapse behind and pulled the attention of the room on this highly chic line-up. Earlier on he said "I don't know if oversize is the right term for that type of construction. But this famous, and for me, a very functional, concept of Cristobal is the idea of the space between the body and the fabric.The clothes float away from the body. It's one of the big iconic things of Balenciaga. The fluidity of floating is beautiful, but it is something else. An architectural piece floating around the body is very structural. I think it's something that Balenciaga invented."
Ghesquiere has reinvented this concept and by seeing these clothes there is nothing else but beautiful construction and a mixture of fabrics that absolutely showed what design and fashion is all about by thinking out of the box. The oversized pieces that were grand in proportions were lightweight that came in graphic color plays. Fabric collages came many shapes some of which were worn with super short pants.
The exaggerated, downward sloping brims that Balenciaga introduced in 1967 were worn with some of these inspirations. All of this is a continuous flow of ideas and inspirations that Ghesquiere channels for Balenciaga and are always marvelous must haves. What was Nicolas sorry about? I forgot.
I think that Stéphane Rolland needs more press attention because his clothes are truly amazing and are something to offer to Haute Couture. I also wondered why nobody ever considered picking his designs for red carpet events. What a statement they make! How glorious they look! What elegance they display! Yes, I am gushing and being a bit dramatic. And...I mean it....
Stéphane Rolland studied at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Balenciaga recognized his talent and hired him when he was 20 to work on the menswear collection. One year later he was promoted to Creative Director. At 24, he started his own prêt-à-porter line and it sold in 80 boutiques and department stores worldwide. Later, Stéphane Rolland wanted to try something new and it was Haute Couture. He happened to find a place which was Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture and felt right at home. After being at the helm at Jean-Louis Scherrer Haute Couture for 10 years, Stéphane Rolland opened his Couture House on July 2nd, 2007 with his first show under his own name.
Stéphane Rolland
His Spring Couture Collection 2011 is a burst of high fashion radiation that flowed from his creative mind into the world. The collection had a modern, minimal opulence that demonstrated his captivating imagination.
I was tickled by all of the amazing silhouettes that displayed the perfect artistry that were emphasized by the knowledge and mastery of the hands of couture and construction. There were beautiful necklines and dramatic shoulders. Extravagant gowns with dramatic tails and billowy, flowing sensual gowns, glided down the runway, commanding attention. The color palette is warm with orange and mustard with a splash of brown. Draping and pleating were some of the signatures for this spring as well as gold being the thread throughout the collection. You will see some of this gold especially in the white group and black group of dresses. And of course the right touch of embroidery and beading punctuated the designs with perfection. Wait until you see the jumpsuit for the finale. It made quite a spectacular statement.
Check out this splendor of Haute Couture and let it take your breath away.
Madame Grès, Couture at Work is a retrospective that is entirely devoted to this mythic couture label.
It is planned by Paris-based fashion museum Museé Galliera's new director, Olivier Saillard. It is running until July 24th at Museé Bourdelle.
80 creations, mainly Museé Galliera's vast private collection, spanning the 55 year long career of Grès, is being exhibited along with pieces on loan by collectors such as Azzedine Alaïa and US Vogue's Hamish Bowles.
Germaine Krebs, aka Madame Grès, was a trained sculptor and worked rarely with patterns and constructed designs directly on the body. According to Saillard, who views the designer as the pioneer of sophisticated minimalism, Madame Grès essentially reworked the same dress pursuing her ideal of the seamless garment economy of line and volume. Grès was amazing with colors from neutrals to yellow, bluebell, raspberry, brown and coral. Her heyday was in the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. There was a come back in the Seventies with Yves Saint Laurent and Issey Miyake who among advocates of her work. Among her label's fans were Marlene Dietrich, the Duchess of Windsor, Grace Kelly and Paloma Picasso.
While great designers such as Balenciaga and Pierre Balmain used padding and undergarments, Grès' designs were supple, light and unstructured. Saillard says that she liked her models not to wear any underwear because she wanted the clothes to be in contact with the skin.
What is missing from the exhibition is information about Grès herself. She was extremely private and that is how she liked it. She was a workaholic who preferred her clothing to do the talking. Saillard learned that she drove in a Jaguar with mink lined seats and she often sat on a piece of jersey to protect the fur.
She named her best selling fragrance after herself baptizing it Cabochard, which translates as stubborn. Saillard said that when she was heartbroken, she sawed her marital bed in two after being deserted by her husband, Serge Anatolievitch, known as Grès, after whom her company was named. Grès was an anagram of Anatolievitch's first name, dropping
the "e".
The firm was liquidated in 1987, before it was acquired by Japanese textile importer Yagi Tsusho Ltd, which still owns the brand today.
Grès died in obscurity in 1993 in a retirement home near Toulon, France a few days before her 90th birthday. Her death was made public only a year after the event. The last dress she ever made, a Japanese style floral gown that features in the Musée Bourdelle show, was commissioned by de Givenchy in 1989.
