In the golden afternoon...

Christian Dior

I was absolutely not planning on having anything to say about the Dior F/W 2010 Haute Couture collection. That's pretty much why I stopped reviewing Dior shows, because I've had nothing to say about them except the same-old same-old; boring, stodgy, out of touch, beneath Galliano's capability. It gets tiring complaining about the same thing. But as it turns out I have something to say this season.

I don't hate it, not at all. In fact, there are things about it I quite like. For starters I like that Galliano took what is an extremely cheesy inspiration (flowers) that could easily have resulted in an equally cheesy collection of fusty Dior rehashes, and threw a bit of a curve ball. The clothes are flowery all right, but any flowers that inspired these clothes were probably seen on one of those neon black light posters with black flocked background, not in a garden. I honestly think that the black light poster comparison is kind of apt, because there is something delightfully tacky and kind of vulgar about this collection. Whereas a lot of Galliano's recent collections, both couture and ready to wear, have seemed like earnest attempts at doing tasteful, elegant clothing, this doesn't seem to be going for that effect at all. It seems like it was meant to be over the top and a little ridiculous. Why else would the model's heads be wrapped in colored cellophane like a floral bouquet? That little styling trick, coupled with the technicolor makeup and cartoony pompadours, was a nice touch that helped keep the collection from feeling stodgy. Same goes for the raffia craft ribbon tied around the waists of jackets and dresses. Overall there was something a little haphazard about things. This collection doesn't seem like it was the result of John and his team studiously poring over the Dior archives and painstakingly trying to recreate their beauty. Instead it looks like it came from the inside. It also looks like it was somewhat fun to create. The clothes may be tacky, or silly, or completely ridiculous, and they may not have that madcap spirit of old, but you can't deny that they have a certain liveliness to them that has been all but missing from the house recently. For me, that's the most exciting aspect of this collection. There's more passion in these 30 dresses than there has been in all the collections of the last two years combined. It also doesn't hurt that all I can think about while looking at this collection are those bitchy singing flowers from Alice in Wonderland.

Don't get me wrong though, this is still a far cry from what Galliano is capable of creating. As pretty as the colors and details may be, the fact is that these clothes are still not particularly contemporary. And I can't help but feel like it's kind of easy to look at flowers as a source of inspiration and just end up creating dresses that are meant to look like flowers. It doesn't take the strongest imagination to put hand painted petals cascading down the side of a dress. But on the plus side the clothes don't look like something Dior himself would ever have designed, so that's a bit of progress right there. Another positive is that for once the bright, borderline garish color palette makes utter sense given the theme of the collection, not to mention that some of the clashes are really quite beautiful and very well done. Even though this collection doesn't exactly erase the memory of the last few years it doesn't leave me wishing I hadn't bothered to look at it, either. That may not sound like much, but believe me, at this point that's high praise for a Dior collection.

all images from Style.com

Flashback: Dior Haute Couture Spring Summer 2000

To celebrate my 50th post, which, considering I started this blog one boring, sleepless night during fashion week is kind of a big deal, I'm going to look back at what was one of the most controversial fashion shows ever presented. It also happens to rank amongst my all time favorite collections.

The collection that John Galliano presented in the first month of the new millenium provided me with my very first hit of a wondrous drug known as Dior Haute Couture. I don't know how, why or where I first heard of this collection, a collection that has since gained a level of infamy within the industry, but I do remember hearing about it and after all, that's the most important thing. Even so, at my age and having not yet fully immersed myself into the world of fashion I didn't realize just how big a deal this collection was. The collection was inspired mainly by the homeless population that John frequently saw during his morning runs along the Seine, with inspiration also pulled from Charlie Chaplin's iconic "Tramp" character, Diane Arbus' photography of social outsiders and oddballs, mental patients, and the artist Egon Schiele. Pretty intense stuff, huh. But keep in mind that Galliano is nothing if not a romantic. From the earliest part of his career he has loved to concoct stories built around an impoverished, eccentric muse, whether real or imagined. As I've heard it explained by him in many an interview, including one for SHOWstudio.com back in 2001, he imagined that these people had chosen to live outside of society, to retreat from their lives and that out of their need they inadvertently created a kind of style all their own. Also brewing in John's head was a desire to expose the inner workings of haute couture garments, while also chipping away at the elegant, respectable image that Dior had always maintained.

The clothes themselves drew heavily on the deconstruction and reconstruction techniques championed by the Japanese and Belgian avant garde designers who first gained noteriety in the early 80s, as well as his own experiments with deconstruction from his days at Central Saint Martins. With his penchant for drama and romance, as well as the expertise of Dior's atelier's, Galliano managed to make deconstruction, something which had been firmly established as an aesthetic unto itself, all his own. Probably the most interesting thing about this collection, and for me the real genius of it, is the dichotomy between the impeccable craftsmanship and the worn, destroyed look of the clothes. That the garments were painstakingly crafted by hand using the finest materials and most precise handwork, and yet look as though they've been ripped to pieces and are libel to fall apart at the seams is probably the most brilliant bit of "high/low" fashion I can think of. Another thing is that this collection was shown to an audience that included some of the worlds most well-off women, with the hope being that they might buy the clothing, and yet the clothes themselves were inspired by poverty. I mean think about it, many of these haute couture clients give donations to or throw benefits for various charities. It's not unlikely that somewhere along the line they've done something towards helping those in need, and yet they're being offered a selection of incredibly expensive fashion to buy from that looks like the clothes worn by the very people they've worked to help. It's completely perverse really, a fashion mind-fuck for the ages. The controversy that resulted from this collection was so great that it was being discussed heavily outside of fashion circles. While I can understand some of the sensitivity that the public felt about the topic, I think that Galliano was dead on in that SHOWstudio interview when he pointed out how hypocritical it was for people to attack him for his perceived insensitivity and vulgarity in using poverty as an inspiration, given how so many of the go-to cultures and destinations that designers look to for ideas are completely poverty striken themselves. Besides, other artists have found inspiration in povery, but since fashion is often derided as vapid, useless and shallow it's a much easier target for criticism than contemporary photography or painting.

By far my favorite pieces in the collection were the four closing looks, inspired by Egon Schiele. The gowns were entirely de-and-re-constructed, featuring fans of fabric held up by exposed boning, asymmetrically sliced slits bound with lacing, angled seams traced with a shadow of black tulle and trains with lopped-off hems. Each of the gowns were streaked with paint in faded colors taken directly from Schiele's work, and the illustrative quality was enhanced by the aforementioned tulle, which was veiled over the fabric. That little trick gave the seams the look of dashed off brushstrokes, as well as making the creamy silk taffeta look a bit like canvas that had been ripped off of it's frame.

That was the real beauty of the collection, the romantic little details, from belts of twine strung with objet trouves (broken jewelry, books, miniature liquor bottles, love letters) to the raw edges on the fabric which had been delicately frayed by hand, one thread at a time.

To this day I think that this collection was one of Galliano's best, and certainly most thought provoking. It was such a huge departure from the elegance, drama and overt glamour that he built his reputation on and which had characterized his work at Dior up until that point; that alone was risky. Combined with the subject matter and the inherent social commentary within it you have to at least respect just how far out on a limb John went. Even though I don't believe he was deliberately trying to push buttons (that just doesn't seem his style) he had to have known that there would be some reaction to this collection. The fact that he stuck to his guns and did what he felt without hesitation is proof, to me anyway, that he is one of the few fashion designers who truly is an artist.

all photos from Corbis.com

Behind the seams...

Christian Dior

Haute Couture. Just mentioning the words conjures up images of intense beauty, mind-blowing workmanship, and unbridled drama....ideally at least. Unfortunately these last few years the situation has been anything but ideal where Dior is concerned. Instead we've been treated to a string of collections singularly obsessed with the Dior archives. Don't misunderstand, there's nothing really wrong with scouring the archives for inspiration - that's essentially how fashion works - but how many times can the viewing public stand to have the significance of the f-ing New Look jammed down our throats? Seriously, one more season of a Bar suit reprise and I may snap. It's both numbing and painful at the same time. This season, besides finding inspiration in (read; rehashing) the New Look, Galliano found inspiration in backstage images of Christian Dior's cabine models while they were getting ready for a couture presentation, specifically in the state of undress captured in the images and the lingerie that the models were wearing. His desire, as it has been for quite some time now, was to show the inner workings of traditional haute couture. It's a nice notion, but it's not newsworthy in the least. Ever since his infamous Spring/Summer 2000 Hobo collection Galliano and his ateliers have worked to expose the inner secrets of couture clothing. Since that show nine years ago John has ripped clothes apart, exposed linings, boning and padding, turned things inside out and upside down, and rendered the clothes in complete transparency so that every stitch is visible, all with the goal of showing the work that goes into making a couture garment. So this season that means showing padded bar jackets in unsophisticated colors paired with black or flesh-toned garters, satin tap pants and stockings. As a look there was a little jolt to it that was a welcome respite from the stuffy faux elegance everyone has come to hate, but the truth is that this was just a styling trick. Honestly, there was no real undercurrent of eroticism or vulgarity to these looks. They were safe and unthreatening, a kind of sterile, PG-13 soft-core sensuality where any hint of something perverse or even truely sexual is hinted at only in passing. There isn't anything to really read into the looks, which probably accounts for why they're ultimately benign. And let's be real here, exposed undergaments are something that designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Miuccia Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Tom Ford and Galliano himself, notably with his S/S RTW collection for Dior, have already done. Those are just the names off the top of my head, there are countless others who have done it at some point as well. I'm not saying that since it's been done a;ready that no one else can do it, but considering that the arena we're talking about right now is Haute Couture I expect more than just pairing a jacket with stockings. If that's all I wanted I could just buy Vogue Paris. Besides those looks, with jackets that ranged from hot pink, lime green, and yellow to zebra stripes and nude with a black dotted tulle overlay, there were tailleurs with jackets that had a garter built out of the jacket hem, transparent flaring skirts in tulle or pleated chiffon, draped dresses and tops covered with embroidery and a truly hideous deflated orange bubble skirt worn with a black bra and opera length gloves. Even though there wasn't anything remotely fresh going on with the clothes, a simple change of the colors would have made all the difference. If John would just ditch the dowager pastels and tacky brights the clothes would probably feel much less dated than they do...though the drag queen makeup, Irving Penn poses and silly hats that always accompany these collections don't exactly help either.

There were, of course, a number of dresses. A blush and black dotted tulle cocktail sheath looked like the A.B.S. version of the stunning nude and black embroidered transparent dresses John showed back in 2005, while a cherry red organza dress with a frothy top half covered in embroidery was sheer enough to show the stockings underneath. The stockings were nice. The dress...not so much. There was a hot pink pouf skirted dress, the top half of which was a beige bustier, some knee length numbers in some very off shapes that weren't quite draped but weren't truly structured either, and finally a selection of debutante-ready gowns. One look in draped white chiffon had a panel of leopard print down the front that was, to put it plainly, tacky as all hell. Another was a lumpen mass of embroidered pink faille with a skirt that was split open in the front to reveal the garters underneath. A pale lemon tulle skirt was scattered with crystals and worn with a nude colored bra. I get the point of that look, but it's execution is kind of tactless, no? It just looks awkward, and kind of immature as well. The rest were in a similar vein, pairing a corseted top with a full skirt in tulle, lace or one in faille draped in swags and seemingly suspended from the garters attatched to the corseted top.

This was yet another season of territory that has been covered by Galliano before with much better results. I'm truly tired of this obsession that Dior is having with a world that doesn't exist anymore. The days of the salon and the cabine, of gloved hands and outfits that are always finished off with a hat are long dead. I could say it's time to move on, but given that Galliano didn't start his career at Dior obsessing over these things it would seem odd to say that. What he needs is to let go and stop giving the suits what they think Dior needs. There's nothing wrong with looking at the past, but you need to run the inspiration through a sieve so that all that's left is what's essential, and if a businessman is telling you otherwise then any designer worth their praise should know better than to listen. I'd be repeating myself at this point if I expressed how utterly frustrating it is to see this creative rut play out, so I can't even think of anything else to say. The whole formula is stale, and the only thing to do with something stale is to toss it. I just hope that John and/or the Dior execs realize that sooner rather than later.

Almost, and just right...

Christian Dior

In a very short amount of time, just two years almost to the day, I have gone from dying to see John Galliano's ready to wear collections for Dior, to dreading seeing them. It's because for the last few years John's work at Dior has been singularly fixated on the Dior archives, and he's pretty much given up the magpie mad genius part of his personality that got him the Dior job to begin with. The reasons for the change can only be speculated upon, and there are plenty of possibilities. I'm beginning to think that instead of pressure from the company heads, it was triggered by Steven Robinson's death and that John was more affected by it than he may have let on. Since Robinson passed away John's collections for Dior have been lacking the one major thing that made him him; passion. There's none of it to be found, and even though you might be able to create a convincing argument against that, saying the passion is still there under the surface, I personally wouldn't be convinced because in all of John's work, through every stage of his career that I have seen from the early 90s to when it started to decline, the passion was always in your face. That burning need to create something new, something beautiful, something strange was always the defining characteristic of what he did. Even when the work became a little stagnant, like with his F/W 04 Haute Couture collection, you could tell that he at least poured his heart, soul and guts into making it. Sadly, that is no more. Then there's the fact that at the time Steven died John had recently celebrated his 10th anniversary at Dior by delving into the Dior archives more literally than he ever had before. Maybe since he no longer has Steven around, he doesn't know what the next step to take is and has just been treading water. But my theory brings up a who new set of questions, like why his namesake ready to wear collections suddenly got stronger around the time of Robinson's death. Point is, there is no clear cut answer just yet.

So, as has become normal, I approached this collection expecting something flat, lifeless and extremely commercial, much like his dreadful S/S outing. Thankfully the fashion gods were feeling oh so slightly benevolent, and the collection wasn't the downer I was expecting. Don't get your hopes up though, it was hardly the visceral event of days gone by, but there was a sense of relief to see that some of the old Galliano is still there. The inspiration this season was Orientalism via Paul Poiret. Now, Galliano has called upon the spirit of the self proclaimed "King of Fashion" in the past, most memorably for his S/S 1998 Haute Couture collection, but in a way. Poiret's influence is often to be found in John's work, sometimes subtley, sometimes overtly. This season was sort of in between. The show started with more of the Dior inspired tailoring that has been the main focus at Dior for some time now, this season showing up first in black and white ikat prints, then in electric purple tweed, violet floral brocades and gray spotted jacquards. Instead of a circle skirt or an A-line skirt, this season's skirt for the New Look suits was a bubble shape brought in tight at the hem, a sort of take on Poiret's hobble skirt. A black and white ikat print coat with a flared out skirt came trimmed in black fox as did an electric purple wool dropped waist coat that called to mind Poiret's lantern shapes. A gray straight cut coat with a frog closure and fox trim definitely harked back to Poiret's kimono shaped opera coats, though heavily watered down and de-glamourized. A jacket in a black and gray print with rounded bracelet sleeves and horizontal pleating was quite beautiful, but it looked more like something you'd see on an Armani runway than at Dior. So far the collection was immensly helped by the hair and makeup, which featured bobbed hairstyles covered in bobby pins and burgundy bow lips paired with penciled on eyebrows that upped the ante in terms of glamour. But still, the clothes were pretty standard, so while the potential for greatness was there, they didn't quite manage it.

After the largely monochrome opening with shots of purple came a section of completely mundane paisley printed silk dresses and some stuffy skirt suits in red or pink. Completely forgettable in my opinion. Then the extravagence started to make an appearence. Straight cut silk chemise or directoire line dresses in golden yellow, cerulean blue and peach were mixed in with golden brocade lantern coats, harem pants and bias cut columns covered in silver or gold embroidery. A purple and gold brocade jumpsuit with voluminous harem pants made for the most interesting and trendy piece in the collection, while a deep purple chiffon and organza dress had scrolling fabric embroidery along the V-neck which gave a beautiful touch to an otherwise uninteresting dress. Overall the eveningwear was like a commercial-ified take on Galliano's own F/W 08 collection, where he helped start this harem pants trend. Here though, with the mish mash of bright colors, straightforward use of the theme and pretty but largely forgettable pieces, it just came off as kind of flat.

Usually when a designer taps into vaguely Eastern exoticism there's a real stream of decadence to it, very rich, very sumptuous and very heady. Here, not so much. It's like Orientalism for dummies. There's no need to know what an odalisque is, or who Poiret was and where his influence can be seen in the collection, or even to be able to pinpoint what part of the world it seems to be referencing. It's homoginized and pre-digested for your convenience, just like his take on Africa was last season. Even something as simple as a different color palette would have changed the mood of this completely and made it more sophisticated. Instead of the bursts of red, peach, magenta and blue, how about some richer colors like burnt orange, dusty olive green, prune, ochre, and bloody burgundy? As it is now the effect is more Disney's Aladdin than Wilde's Salome, but at it's core the place where it's coming from is closer to Galliano's spirit than his recent efforts have been. However it's just not quite there yet, it's still too controlled and methodical in the thinking behind it. So while my faith is still not quite restored, I think there's a chance that it can be.

Lanvin

Smoky light, wet pavement and a little black dress. It's the ultimate in what everyone imagines Paris to be, and turned out to be the look and feel of Alber Elbaz's collection for Lanvin. If last season was largely disappointing, then this collection more than made up for it. Continuing with the eccentrically chic, decadent mood of his gorgeous pre-fall collection, Elbaz stirpped away some of the prettiness, and what he ended up with was a fabulous collection of gorgeous clothes. There was a strong Pre-War Parisian vibe to it; elegant but not quite, austere, but still very sexy, and extremely contemporary all wrapped up with a hint of the late 30s/early 40s. In a nutshell, it was all about women and the many contradictions that make them so very intriguing. This season Elbaz cut many of the pieces on the bias, from coats, to jackets, to his signature minimal sheath dresses which, as anyone who has either cut something on the bias or worn something on the bias can tell you, makes the garment infinitely more flattering and sensual. The first look out was a one shouldered black dress, knee length, very fitted in the body with a voluminous puff on the shoulder, a detail carried over from Spring and perfected here. It was worn with long leather gloves, platform pumps and a feathered headband in the girl's hair. Then came a shapely skirt suit, the jacket flaring out at the waist worn with a thin belt. A red belted coat had a molded scroll at the hips that gave it an hourglass silhouette, and a stunning strapless sheath had a large draped ruffle spiraling from the bust and over the hip. Furs came patchworked onto felt or knit coats, straight skirts were gathered onto one side or folded randomly to give a bit of dimension to a simple shape, and a gorgeous chalky white coat was gently molded to the body, the only details on it were the reversed seams down the side, across the shoulder and around the armhole. It was so classic, so spare and clean, but with that slight twist that made it utterly Lanvin.

At this point, besides the Pre-War Parisian mood, I also was getting a sort of eroticism. The way the clothes were worn, very elegant but slightly askew, accessorized to the nines with big jewelry, leather gloves and those feathered hairpieces, the occasional fur stole thrown haphazzerdly over a dress or coat, combined with the wet pavement that made up the runway made me think of prostitutes as captured by Brassai. It was subtle, but it was there. A girl in a long, loose black coat with a floppy collar could very well be naked underneath. And a gorgeous velvet dress in the same shape as the dress that opened the show had a trim of tulle around the collar bone.

Tulle was also layered over a black shift and formed two little puffs on the shoulders, made into a sheer blouse with a zip down the front which was paired with a pencil skirt that was also draped with tulle, and ruched into a ruffle on one side to make a fleshy beige colored dress. From there Elbaz started introducing some opulence in the form of chunky beadwork on chemise or shift dresses and devore velvet cut into draped dresses, voluminous gathers and tunic tops. Paired with major necklaces that were a little bit tribal, a little bit futuristic and a little bit like the kind of silly dress up jewelry girls play with, they added an irreverent and contradictory touch to the elegance of the clothes.

It was an extremely strong collection. Strong in focus, strong in technique (which is always the case with a Lanvin collection) and strong in it's harmonizing of pragmatism and fantasy. It's truly investment dressing in that these are clothes that will never, ever be out of style. But the thing is, they're not boring. A Lanvin collection never reinvents the wheel, it's rarely about a trend although Alber has given birth to more than his fair share of those, and it's never far reaching in terms of some statement that it's trying to make. Elbaz just has an innate ability to make really simple, practical, flattering clothing seem extremely desirable. I have no idea what it is exactly, but I'm assuming you'd need to put the clothes on to fully appreciate them. Still, just looking at them on the runway and on the rack is always a pleasure.

all images from style.com

Like a virgin...

So kids, I'm sure you've all just been dying to hear my take on the Spring/Summer 2009 couture collections. Unfortunately, the real world called....and called, and called, and called until finally I had to answer. Luckily, I'm back to focusing on the wonderful little bubble of beauty and bitchiness called fashion.

Well apparently white is the new black if the recent couture collections are anything to go by. It's strange. Every season when the handful of couture houses present their collections there's always some common thread throughout most of them despite the fact that the designers themselves couldn't be more different. This season the major similarity in all of the collections is that classic non-color representing purity, virginity, lightness, delicacy and space. Perhaps that's why I'm not loving it...not that I mind white clothing per say, but when it seems like every collection I've seen in a 3 day period has had an abundance of white I think it's fair to say that I've had my fill. In a way it's kind of easy to read into. Things are in a pretty dismal state these days and there doesn't seem to be any quick turnaround in sight. You could say that all this white perfectly mirrors how bleak the world seems....I'm not actually saying that though, just throwing the suggestion out there. Every big name collection shown featured it's fair share of white. Dior showed it as taught little cocktail sheaths or full skirted ballgowns decorated with Delftware patterns in shades of blue. Givenchy sent out a procession of Vestal Virgins in a take on a broderie Anglaise. Gaultier had thick bands trimming a plunging black V-neck. But the biggest and whitest of them all was Chanel, where Karl Lagerfeld kept his lineup almost exclusively white on white. We'll cover all this and more in due time.

So the inevitable question has of course come up this season of how couture is relevant in a world that is slowly going broke. The fact is it's not, but couture hasn't actually been relevant in a long time. And besides, I highly doubt that the women who can actually buy couture need to worry too much. Oh sure, their husbands might tighten their budget a bit, but the way I see it, if they can still even consider buying couture then there's no point in trying to make couture relevant for the tough times we're in.

Dior

Dior. Dior, Dior, Dior. Just thinking the name makes me feel exasperated at this point in time. It has so thoroughly slipped from it's place of relevance, creativity and prestige that every season I wonder to myself why I even bother looking at the collections anymore. It only ends up disappointing and frustrating me. Does that make me some kind of fashion masochist? Or worse....a delusional optimist hoping against hope that this season will be the season that things finally turn around, or even offer a glimmer of hope that things will turn around. Looking back it's so clear to identify the turning point when Dior slipped into this rut, and the answer is bound to upset or offend someone. The Spring/Summer 2007 couture show was the moment when John Galliano got lost in Dior's heritage and as of right now he has yet to find his way out. Yes, that collection was mind-blowingly beautiful, but it was also the first time where he treated the Dior archives with devout reverence. Before that, he thought nothing of taking the heritage of Dior, the tradition of overt femininity and elegance, and subverting it in an effort to make things contemporary, brash and powerful. It certainly couldn't have helped that soon after the S/S 07 show he lost his right hand man and longtime collaborator Steven Robinson. So now here we are, in a place where all of John Galliano's skills, imagination, passion and genius are being squandered while he's trying to hold on to a form of elegance and sophistication that has absolutely no relevance to the here and now. Is it any wonder that looking through the photos of his collections (I really don't even watch the whole videos anymore) I always feel like I'm banging my head against the proverbial wall?

This season his inspiration came from Vermeer, Van Dyck and of course, Christian Dior. Now, I have nothing against the Dutch Masters. Nor do I have anything against Flemish baroque portraiture. I don't even have anything against the New Look, but this is all territory that Galliano has visited in the recent past. His S/S 05 collection was heavily inspired by 16th and 17th century Dutch art. And his F/W 07 Bal des Artistes collection paid tribute to all of those Baroque masters, in some vague form or another. So right off the bat I wasn't exactly thrilled. The only difference between those collections and this one was that the "Diorness" was much more literal and dragged the collection down. One of the predominant looks in the collection was yet another take on the nipped-waist, full skirted Bar suit, this time with stiff, standout skirts with scrolling hems that bounced as the girls walked paired with those padded waist jackets. Shown in golden yellow, Delft blue, white and red, they really didn't do very much for me. Even though the skirts were probably meant to give of a suspended, light sort of feeling, they ended up looking clumsy due to the afformentioned bouncing. The fact that the stiff fabrics that these looks were rendered in showed every crease near those hems didn't help matters. The two best looks were among the simplest; an ivory tailleur with an off the shoulder jacket that had full, honeycomb pleated organza sleeves and a slim skirt with oversized cartridge pleats at the waist, and a slim off the shoulder white sheath, also with a cartridge pleated waist and a corseted torso with tonal embroidery on the skirt. Neither of them were anything remarkable, and the poor little sheath shown on Chanel Iman was practically drowned out by the colorful, voluminous looks that dominated the lineup, but both stood out for their simplicity and the fact that they were just downright pretty.

After the repetition of the skirt suits and clumsily draped cocktail dresses, the collection segued into evening. What used to be Galliano's specialty has now become formulaic and not even all that beautiful. I think the single most frustrating thing about this current state that Dior collections have gotten stuck in is the fact that he has all but abandoned the one thing that he's so well known for; bias cut siren gowns. He hasn't shown a column of liquid silk satin cut to mold around the body in so long, and I just can't figure out why. He's proven time and again how talented and versatile he is, so why is he wasting the skill that made him famous in the first place? It's absolutely baffling. This season he sent out some mostly forgettable structured ivory columns before moving into a parade of ballgowns. Some had Delftware inspired embroidery, others featured trim in handpainted floral prints and swags of fabric draping around the bodice and skirt. In shades of ivory, pale pink, blue, peach and coral, they were definitely lacking in the sophistication department. They looked heavy, retro and very much like the cliche of a "Couture" dress. Then he sent out a finale gown straight out of a Renaissance fair; blood red, an off-the-shoulder corseted bodice with dark floral trim, and tired ruffles trailing down the back. For every accusation that's ever been hurled at him that he designs costumes, this gown was probably the single most costumey thing I've ever seen from him. It could be straight out of a period film or costume rental store.

Honestly this collection was even more of a disappointment than the last few have been. Even though last season's foray into extreme delicacy and elegance was a largely predictable homage to all things Dior, it was still beautiful and a little bit sexy in places. This though, besides being a flat and lifeless affair, wasn't even that pretty and worse than that, it was kind of sub-par in the craftsmanship department.....and while that's always a no-no for couture, it's shocking considering how refined Galliano's finishing always is. Every season I feel more and more frustrated by Dior couture. Not to sound completely melodramatic, but it's becoming kind of painful to see Galliano destroying his reputation this way. Galliano has always been that rare breed of designer that's truly an artist. He imbued his work with his blood sweat and tears, and you could always tell that he truly put his soul into it. But these last few seasons, well, I can't say for sure if he's still putting his all into his work at Dior, but it certainly doesn't seem that way.

Chanel

I have a theory; Chanel is to couture what the heartbeat is to every living thing. It's the one house that let's you know that couture is alive and kicking. As long as it's there, couture will never die. It probably has something to do with the, er, tenacity of it's namesake, Coco. But over the last few years, I feel like Chanel couture collections have fallen into a bit of a routine. Spring is always very light, very airy, very feminine and very delicate. Fall on the other hand is usually a bit more baroque, heavier in the textures, colors and decoration. Spring especially though has gotten a little frustrating for me because every season there's a lot of white, pale pink and soft grays, ostrich feathers, tulle, flowers, and ultra delicate beadwork. Besides the fact that the craftsmanship is impeccable, and the results are almost always without flaw, I'm always left wondering what all of the fuss is about because really, Lagerfeld isn't actually doing anything new season to season. Like Dior, it makes me yearn for earlier days, maybe circa 2001/2002. Those collections were all based around simple ideas that in turn became amazingly chic clothes. And they didn't fall into predictability. But who knows, maybe nothing has changed except for me. Maybe I'm becoming jaded, I've come to expect too much from fashion and now take beauty for granted. I just don't know.

Anyway, this season Lagerfeld went to extremes, making almost the entire collection white. The only other color that appeared, and very sparingly at that, was black. The collection was inspired by paper, and you could see it throughout. From the sharp, neat little lines on the jackets and skirts that opened the collection, to the headpieces which, I think, were the most incredible thing in the collection. Each one, and no two were exactly alike, was made out of paper. Flower buds, braids, laurel wreaths, and for the bride at the end, a giant camellia that was in bloom around the face all made an appearance. Now I know that Lagerfeld is no stranger to accessorizing his Chanel collections from head to toe, but I actually think these creations distracted from the clothes.

The opening looks, small boxy jackets with neat, raised collars and A-line skirts, paired with the big dramatic floral headpieces, actually looked more Valentino than Chanel...at least to me. I can't put my finger on exactly why I feel that way, but I can't possibly be the only one who sees it, can I?

After about the first dozen looks I have to admit, my eyes were starting to glaze over. Seeing so much white completely obliterated the individuality of each look to the point that they started looking the same. It's strange, I don't usually mind seeing an abundance of black, but I was not a fan of seeing this much white. Maybe it's because the details all got so lost on these clothes...at least in the pictures. Thankfully Lagerfeld relented a bit and introduced a bit of contrast into the mix courtesy of black piping around the edges of suits, bands of paillettes defining the waist and a dress scattered with black embroidery.

After showing some more white, Lagerfeld sent out some all black looks. A simple shift with cap sleeves was entirely embroidered in black bugle beads which only enhanced the linear quality of the dress and it was easily my favorite piece in the collection because it was in such stark contrast to everything else. Then came three dresses in a black and white blurred floral print which, quite honestly, were very New York Fashion Week looking. After this came the evening dresses, straight columns with a black geometric patterns covering the white surface, layered tulle embroidered with rosettes and a pair of skinny trousers with a strapless embroidered top all made an appearance, though the connection to the inspiration became pretty much non-existent. The bride also wore pants, paired with a tunic-style with a long, ruffled train coming out the back.

Overall it was very beautiful, but kind of bland. I mean, I can only handle so many variations on a white shift with white floral embroidery before I lose interest. Yes, couture needs to be relevant to the times we live in, and Lagerfeld almost always manages that end of things by making clothes that truly are wearable to those members of a certain income that has a lot of zeros, but does excitement and a little bit of drama need to be sacrificed to achieve wearability?

Givenchy

In his three and a half years since he started at Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci has very quickly established a look and spirit that is instantly identifiable. Super slim trousers that could be leggings, masculine influenced jackets paired with delicate, feminine blouses and long, draggy, wraithlike gowns all rendered in a dark, tortured palette and shown in an equally dark and tortured setting. While I have occasionally been a fan of his haute couture collections, both of his couture collections for 2008 left me completely underwhelmed because he was basically just repeating ideas that he had already explored. It seemed too early in his career to be treading water and reworking pieces from past collections rather than creating something new. This season I was completely prepared for yet another procession of Tisci's signature doom and gloom, but thankfully I was caught completely off guard. The usually dark runway was strewn with pale, colorful rose petals and the very first image I saw was a draped, bondage straped gown in a painterly purple floral print. What was this? Givenchy doing prints, and a romantic, colorful floral print at that? Then the photos started coming in. Gone were the dull browns, blacks and grays of past Givenchy collections. Instead we were seeing ivory, dusty lilac, pistachio, pale yellow and alabaster. It was like an immediate breath of fresh air, and it certainly made me sit up in my seat and wait anxiously as more pictures came in. As the photos were posted on the Fashion Spot, it was clear that even though things wouldn't stray too far from Tisci's aesthetic, this collection was going to be different.

Inspired by a mix of the exoticism and eroticism of Lawrence Alma-Tadema's Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the minimal, flowing dancewear of Pina Bausch and a touch of bondage carried over from the spring RTW collection, what Tisci presented was a collection that was not only quite beautiful, but also proved that he's willing to make an effort to push himself. The show opened with an alabaster dress that had exaggerated puff sleeves, a fitted skirt with body-con seaming and a top portion that was done in transparent pleated silk that offered a glimpse of the harness that criss-crossed the chest. Next was a suit, the jacket with similarly exaggerated shoulders and fitted like a glove. Then a draped white blouse paired with yet another fitted, seamed skirt and worn with a massive metal collar. Soon after he sent out dresses in transparent silk that flowed around the body in organic looking drapes. I especially liked the one shown on Jourdan, with that gorgeous crinkle pleated texture in that incredible buttercup yellow color....and I don't even really like yellow. There's just something about it, the color, the lightness of the fabric, the ease of the silhouette that really says springtime.

From here Tisci sent out a small section of draped white dresses with delicate cutwork reminiscent of broderie Anglaise if it was blown up and distorted. Some of them featured elastic bondage underpinnings while others had draped hoods that covered the face and led into plunging necklines. I've been thinking of these looks as the "Vestal Virgins", and it really is quite fitting. They do look like priestesses off to some pagan ritual, don't they? I actually really like the clash between the super delicate fabric and the bondage bits underneath. It's a great contrast, and since it's rare that you see bondage inspired fashion done in pristine white, it's a bit unexpected.

From here Tisci went into evening. Flesh and pale mint gave way to lilac, black and those aforementioned floral prints. Shocking for a Tisci collection, he only used black for the last five looks, and you really can't even count the printed dresses as being black since the purple print is really what stands out. Some of the simple, toga-like draped dresses featured big crystal brooches that looked as if they were what was holding the entire thing together, while two of the flesh colored dresses had this really intricate embroidery or something covering the surface. I actually can't really tell if it even is embroidery, or if it's the fabric itself, but it looks really beautiful against the skin underneath. The three lilac gowns, all a narrow silhouette that gently fluted out below the knee, featured chains trimming necklines with ostrich feathers or completely covering the top in rows, or chain mail that draped across the bodice and waist to give the body some movement. Then came the two floral printed gowns with corseted bodices and straps lashing the shoulders and waist. It seems that the main focus of the collection was taking design elements that are traditionally quite tough and aggressive, like bondage, corsetry and hardware, and softening them. It really was quite interesting how that played out, and it didn't even really dawn on me until after I had looked through the show a few times. To conclude, Tisci sent out three gowns in black, one was trimmed with ostrich feathers and featured transparent insets, another was slightly drop-waisted and had bondage straps around the hips, and the final one featured a simple, plunging v-neck and had voluminous pleated and embroidered sleeves. The last one reminded me quite a bit of his S/S 07 couture show, which also featured gowns with big, face framing pieces that featured beaded sea anemones, leather scales and coral branches. This gown however was a bit more subdued and I'm pretty sure the sleeve and collar portion is a separate piece.

Overall there wasn't much that I didn't like about this collection, and I would definitely say it was my favorite of the week. The great thing about it is that you can totally see the inspirations in the clothes, I mean all you have to do is Google Alma-Tadema or Pina Bausch and it's right there in front of you, but the collection really didn't stray into theme-y territory. I can totally picture a certain type of woman looking amazing in most of it, and I really want to see something from the collection at the Oscars (Eva Green, that means you!!!). While this wasn't Tisci's best couture collection (that honor still goes to S/S 07) it was certainly one of his best because as I said, it's clear he wanted to push himself into areas that he's not naturally drawn to, and it really made for some great fashion. I certainly hope that this new found freedom to explore carries over in his RTW collection come Paris fashion week.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Every now and then a designer manages to find inspiration in some of the most unassuming little places. That was the case this season for Jean Paul Gaultier. His inspiration was calligraphy, specifically the kind used on the edges of currency. You just have to love how dead on Gaultier's timing is, and honestly, if it was anyone other than him that inspiration would probably have just served as a depressing reminder of what's going on in the world. Luckily Gaultier is one witty fellow who knows how to handle his puns. The collection, like most this couture season, was light on color focusing mainly on graphic black and white. But where the Chanel collection had virtually no contrast, Gaultier's show was full of it. The show started, as most Gaultier couture shows do, with some of his signature sharp tailoring. This season he focused on straight, extended shoulders. Some were quite tame, like the one shouldered "Smoking" dress on Ines de la Fressange, others were more exaggerated proving that, at least as far as designers are concerned, the shoulder pad is anything but a flash in the pan trend. Besides the painfully chic Smoking dress, I loved that Gaultier showed pin-stripe power suits. The timing is just so dead on considering how many Wall Street power brokers are losing their shirts (and suits as well, I suspect). In these opening exits the inspiration was handled pretty carefully, a scrolling black pattern trimming the collar and waist of a jacket, beige geometric gridwork on a pin-stripe skirt suit, it was all perfectly chic and, if you didn't know what the theme of the collection was, it would just make for some interesting detail on otherwise classic pieces.

Speaking of details, that's really what made this collection so interesting. Gaultier worked delicate spiraling curls for all they were worth, trimming a nude inset on a white sheath, morphing into fishnet and lace prints on silk coats and as the collection progressed into evening, forming elaborate collars from which the dresses were suspended. Those collars were actually incredibly beautiful and weren't quite like anything I've seen before. One in particular had a metal structure in the shape of a collar and lapel, and in between thin cords criss-crossed in a gridlike sort of pattern. Suspended from this was a simple draped satin column. From the full size pictures, you couldn't even really tell what was going on, and those are the best details in couture collections, the ones that you can only make out from up close.

The evening dresses were where Gaultier really let loose with his inspiration creating dresses of draped fishnet with standup collars, simple goddess colums with insets of inky blue weaving at the waist, graphic geometric corsetry built into nude tulle and a gorgeoous white organza gown with a panniered waist that had delicate scrollwork trimming a sheer panel up the leg and bands of black crin going around the hem. But my favorite piece had to be the black and silver chain mail mini dress on Jourdan. Attatched to the scrolling metal collar that held the dress up were bunches of quill-like feathers, and with the black lipgloss and finger-waved hair she looked like a modern day Josephine Baker.

It was a classicly Gaultier collection, filled with his witty takes on traditional Parisian chic. It was also a much needed return to form after last season's excrutiating neon drag-queen collection, and while it wasn't my favorite collection of the week, it was definitely a close second.

Valentino

So, up until this point I would assume that the title of this entry should be pretty self explanatory. All of the collections mentioned have featured a substantial amount of white clothing. No mystery there. With this collection however the connection is less, er, tasteful. There were plenty of colors in the Valentino collection, the first since the two cobblers...I mean accessories design directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli were appointed as design directors of womenswear. Their first collection, though regarded as a triumph by the leather-faced Maestro and all of his aging acolytes, was a bit like two virgins going at it for the first time; awkward, fumbling and not very good. Hey, I didn't say that the connection to the title was particularly clever or anything...

As anyone with an interest in fashion knows by now, Alessandra Faccinetti was kicked out on her elegantly attired ass by the Valentino people because they, and Valentino himself, felt she wasn't being true to the Valentino heritage. Well, Chiuri and Piccioli were determined to make sure that everyone knew that they had studied and worshiped the archives and fully understand what Valentino is all about. As if it wasn't bad enough that they seemed to have their heads lodged securely up Val's ass, it seemed like he had both his hands firmly up theirs because the collection "they" sent out may as well have been created by Valentino himself. The only thing about it that let you know that the Maestro hadn't designed it was the fact that the technique was so sub-par. Drapes were bulky, details lacked finesse and the evening gowns in stiff silk duchesse and similarly structured fabrics had all the lightness and delicacy of deep fried lard.

The only interesting thing about this collection was the fact that it cast a glaring light on the fact that for years, Valentino himself was entirely out of touch with how contemporary women dress and live. He was stuck in a world of elegance and drama that just didn't resonate with the here and now. But because that was what he had been doing for the entirety of his career, it made sense and nobody questioned it. Plus, his technique was always impeccable. But seeing a parade of pale imitations of the originals was not only insulting to anyone who knows that couture is about perfection above all else, but insulting because apparently this was exactly what Valentino and the people running his company wanted. All they wanted was two sycophants to stroke Valentino's ego and keep things exactly the way they always have been. The whole thing, from the giant "Valentino" scrawled across the backdrop to Valentino's (crocodile?) tears as the designers came out to take their bow and were bowing to the master, just seemed like one giant staged ceremony. It was like that part in Wayne's World when they meet Alice Cooper, except, you know, not funny. Worse than that, if this is the direction the label continues in, and it will no doubt, the label will slip into irrelevance the likes of which only Frida Giannini can relate to.

It really isn't even worth it to post pictures, because if you've ever seen a Valentino couture collection you already know exactly what this collection looks like. There are no surprises, and unless all of the parties involved in the Valentino get their heads on straight, there probably never will be. If this collection proved anything, besides the fact that accessories designers have no business assuming the role of clothing designers, it's that imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery, it's the cheapest.

All photos from Style.com