At the Musee Boudelle in Paris, a rainbow of flowers paraded in couture ensembles designed by Alexis Mabille that were the extended expression of his aesthetic and view of haute couture. It had everything from beading to embroidery and intricate pattern making and cutting in the collection. As Mabille continues to evolve in couture, there is always the noticeable gimmick he does every season. This time it was with the humongous flowers on the top of models' heads and the painted faces to match the color of the flower or outfit. This is part of the Mabille charm, though. There are some pieces to pick and choose from and they have some special touches on each one. There is something like this always expected from Mabille. This season one can pick a color. Enjoy.
Giambattista Valli channelled haute couture in a beautiful and dreamy luxurious way. A mixture of stiff and soft fabrics, shine and glitter, and the transparency all and more were perfect ingredients for his collection for this spring. The world of Haute Couture has embraced him as a great couturier that can fulfill any clients dream one way or another. I enjoyed the mixture of evening gowns he offered from the soft chiffon ensemble to the bold ball gowns. The short dresses were a constant parade of perfect garnishing of embroidery and beadwork and I loved the cream jacket with the exaggerated bow with the black patent skirt, which reminded me of Dior's Bar Suit. The Oscars are coming up and his dresses are worth wearing on the red carpet.
Up and away Chanel goes for Spring 2012 with a beautiful collection of a rainbow of blue hues according to Karl Lagerfeld. About 150 different shades of blue! The show took place in the Grand Palais in a setting of the interior of a luxe jet plane that brought back the luxury of flying with an aisle wide enough for a collection that was just wonderfully Chanel. This took five days to set up and the carpet has the little insignias of the double C of the Chanel brand all in shades of blue and when the show was going on, the clouds were floating by outside the windows.
The dresses had pockets at the hips to give a sense of feel and casualness and they were short for day and long for evening. The sleeves were ample and the boatnecklines were exaggerated and stood up, from tweeds and boucle to beading and embroidery all done in a new way and in new materials. The beading was fabulously heavy on some dresses and the peek-a-boo effect on the stockings right below the hem added a subtle dazzling touch to the legs.
At the end Lagerfeld came out of the cockpit to give his walk to the applause of delight.
The entire collection held true to the Chanel traditions and the premiers andpetite mains all did an amazing job in executing fabulous new shapes and silhouettes according to Lagerfeld's vision. And Karl is always ahead coming up with new ideas. Like he said after the show: "No Fifties. No Sixties. No Seventies. Just what I like."
The house of Christian Dior was pretty alive and buzzing with the curiosity of what will be shown for Spring 2012. On Avenue Montaigne on the third floor of the studio, surrounded by the beautiful creamy gray is where the presentation took place. The clothes were definitely much more cleaner, elegant and luxe and had a sense of a saleable quality that will fair well for old and new clients of Dior. At the same time this is the other extreme from the touch of Galliano who created clothes that stimulated any one's imagination as well as the appetite of couture in a grand way which always captivated the world. It has been a year that Galliano was let go of Dior by LVMH.
Bill Gaytten who was Galliano's right hand man from day one and who is the studio director for the house, has done well with this collection compared to last fall when he created looks that looked like a whole bunch of art students cut and pasted pieces of fabric and remnants together. This season details and silhouettes were created that Monsieur Dior himself imagined and were incorporated with some modern flair made in colors such as black, grey, white, beige, lavender, violet and red.
According to Gaytten this collection was the X-ray collection which had some transparency to show the technique and work that goes into the confections. Even though Galliano created a collection similar to this in 2005, this take of Gayttens was pretty as well. However, the collection was a feast of designs that are really beautiful and wearable, maybe with some requests to put a silk slip underneath some of them.
Even though Gaytten is designing the collections for Dior, there is no word yet as to who the designer or creative director will be or if they are still looking.
Overall, this Dior Collection got a great hand of applause and I applause Bill Gaytten for his efforts. Well done!
Donatella Versace said it is time to bring glamour back and that Versace is a Couture House. I often wondered what happened to the couture presentations that we all looked forward to ever since Gianni started to produce it. The clothes always ended up on the red carpet and always made sexy and glamorous statements.
The Iles-de-France was a perfect place to show. Even though fifteen pieces were presented, this was a preview of what will be coming in the future seasons from the atelier of Versace and what it is capable of. These clothes were exceptionally exquisite and held true to the reputation of Versace being a house of glamour, sexiness with workmanship that is brilliant, forward thinking and elegant. Most of the collection has been dipped in sequins, beads and rhinestones and cut close to the body from short to long lengths. Slashes of shiny gold details gave some gowns the perfect touch, emphasizing sensual parts of the female body. Even though these pieces were not easy for the models to move in, it did not matter because the clothes were the stars and the stars will walk down the red carpet on Oscar night!
This time for Spring Christopher Kane made a fun, playful and young collection by using a host of stiff couture fabrics for the wonderful shifts with clever origami folds, and sparkly, embellished ones for playful A-line skirts in pastel pink or mint green. There were some hologram like flower shapes, framed in sequins and added onto skirts and blouses. I was not so crazy about the denim with rhinestone detail and that muddy brown taffeta coat. Other than that Christopher Kane still remains one of my favorite British designers.
A mechanical swan at the Rowes Museum in the Yorkshire Dales and a Cecil Beaton photograph called "Symphony in Silver" dominated Giles Deacon's inspiration that was shown with elegance and flair. Within all the white and silver, there was some spots of red and black in cygnet prints that went on T-shirt to evening dresses. I loved the laser cut silver leather garments with the perfect shine that was delicious and sleek. Giles also showed a wonderful amount of evening gowns that indicated that he has been selling quite a number of couture pieces. They ranged from the ethereal to theatrical. Giles has a way of showing elegance that can go from sporty to glamorous. These clothes will make any woman who feels like an ugly duckling look like a beautiful swan!
Chief Creative Officer Christian Bailey of Burberry Prorsum hit the history books and paid homage to old-fashioned hand craftsmanship in this polished and vibrant collection. It was filled with prints, raffia, chunky bits of mismatched colored wood, woven leather. And the major themes for this season were texture and color.Vibrant colors where mixed with bright jewel tones all done in fabulous genius ways and the textures are a mixture of tufts of raffia, colored wood and nubby crosshatch knits. The coats are pieces of work from trenchcoats to parkas. Bailey said "I love the contradiction between this idea of artisinal hand skills, things that take time to make and digital speed. They can coexist."
Joseph Altuzarra, in only a few seasons has made his mark as a leading designer of his generation. For his collection for spring he was influenced by the minimalist Nineties. Hockey played a factor and you can see it in the graphics of the black and white garments and in the track jackets with leather collars and chiffon inserts. Hawaii was displayed, inspired by the bathing suits and the track suits of the Eighties and Nineties. The lush backdrop of the botanical walls were the perfect touch for this presentation. He is advancing technically with a new knit of five-color stitches, which he teamed with leather details on dresses and tops and a dress he engineered to give the hem a wavelike movement. He trained under Riccardo Tischi and there is no mistake that he is clever in his techniques and engineering skills. For this and many other reasons it is no mistake that he deserves the 2011 CFDA Fund Award!
"Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom" moved Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig to design a stunning collection that made me exhausted from being captivated by their confections. It was a pleasure to see runway presentation rather than an installation which they have shown for the past season because the designs are even more alive with a body in them and one can tell how a dress moves. The dresses were like elegant elements of this wonderful tale and projected the colors and elements of the dreamy underwater world of this tale. Fringe was inspired by jellyfish and there were some exquisite mermaid like silhouettes that were absolutely dreamy. I am a HUGE fan of Marchesa and Georgina and Keren just do an amazing job every season and I am always looking forward to what they will create next. Next meaning a collection presentation before the Oscars. Who will wear their gowns at that time? We'll see. Eventually.
