The Difference Between Art and Imitation in Fashion as Presented by the House of Christian Dior

Alright so straight up I might say some bold things right now so agree with me or don't agree with me, whatever. I recently had the pleasure of viewing the latest Christian Dior Haute Couture collection by Bill

Gaytten. For those of you who are unaware of the current situation at the House of Dior.... a few months ago there was a disastrous occurance involving the House's Creative Director and most valuable creative asset to the company - the now infamous John Galliano. Everyone remembers his horrible racist rant which effectively ended his career and caused irreparable humiliation for the Galliano and the House of Dior alike. His rather public dismissal from his position with the company was devastating mainly because of the undeniable and highly enviable talent of John Galliano as a fashion designer. He has since been involved in countless trials and hassels as a result of his blatantly despicable behavior, and his position at the House of Dior has of course,

been filled.

Bill Gaytten, the newly appointed Creative Director worked under the master himself for

more than a decade prior to the incidents which occurred this past February. He was one of his

most intimate confidants and facilitators and he understood the way that Galliano worked better than anyone else. He was

the clear choice for the position. Think back to when Leigh McQueen died in 2010 and he was replaced by his assistant, Sarah Burton, whose collection ended up being so staggeringly good that she was envied for her ability to continue the McQueen tradition with her own personal spin on it. Gaytten was I think meant to try and replicate this situation, but has unfortunately come

off much less than adequate in comparison to either Galliano or Sarah Burton herself.

Part of the reason I went into fashion design and became so enamored with the fashion industry was John Galliano. I can still identify key features in many of his most eye popping collections with Christian Dior as well as with his own self-titled label. I was such an enormously huge fan of his. Very few other designers have had the ability to actually make me cry while witnessing the absolute beauty he was able to accomplish with clothing. His dismissal from Diorand the whole scandall in general hit me pretty hard. Every collection Petey the Troll has ever done has been influenced by his techniques and contributions to the ongoing dialogue about fashion and glamour. The collection is presented in three parts. First we have the cocktail dresses and skirt-top combos, all presented with a clear attempt at high drama in the manner of John Galliano. The silhouettes were almost exactly the same as in some of the most recent Dior collections, featuring that famous "Dior Woman" look from the late 40s that John used so frequently. The patterned fabrics were just way too bold and over the top and the colour choices were frankly somewhat lack luster. The second section was horrifying. The models wearing theflowy full length chiffon dresses with the wild hair were just outrageous. Who said that was okay for them to look like that out on stage?? As they walk by they swoosh their arms about in a manner not uncommon to that of Morticia Addams or Lily Munster. Weird. The last bit with the ball gowns is where the real Couture comes out. I personally would have been much happier if the show consisted of nothing but these types of dresses and drop all the other garbage.

Not to say that most of these dresses aren't unnecessarily over the top. They come off more

as amateur art pieces than Christian Dior Couture gowns. The last one however, did have my

eye glued to the screen for the duration of her walk from thew beginning to the end of the runway. The choice of fabric and colour makes her look like an architectural masterpiece - perhaps the only win in the collection. Butttttt then the end comes and this suggestion is promptly ruined by the director's choice to have her standing at the back of the stage like a weird statue of liberty or something while the designers come out and wave their little hands. It

looked forced, it looked like they were trying to do something epic with something that just wasn't going to be epic.

He had the key elements. He had the drama and the high contrast and the variety of fabrics and the typical Galliano style show going on with the beginning, middle and end, but in my humble opinion Gaytten was lacking one main thing in his collection. Where is the beauty?? Where is the elegance and grace of the Dior woman?? The Dior woman is supposed to have class and be the most beautiful woman in the room wearing the most beautifully constructed and

created clothing. Gaytten missed the boat on that one I think.

Thanks that was my rant about Christian Dior. See you soon!!

Fashion en Francais - The House of Chanel

WOW I haven't blogged in a while. My bad... it's finals week so I've been working my ass off to get everything done before the end of the term. I've also been dreadfully ill, but enough with the excuses. I've got to get onto writing two posts today to make up for the lost time - one of which you're reading, and the next which will appear tomorrow.

Ooooooooh this is my favorite part of Spring, no doubt. Paris Fashion Week rises above all the rest to exemplify the qualities in fashion that have us all coming back for more, beautiful season after beautiful season. I actually have a specific love and weakness for French fashion thanks to my mother's very French background. Si une femme est mal habillée a Paris, on remarque sa robe, mais si elle est impeccablement vêtue, c’est elle que l’on remarque, apres tout. ;)

The House of Chanel was founded by the one and only Coco Chanel (aka the single coolest woman of all time) in 1909 in Paris. Even then Chanel was known for an extremely high level of sophistocation, workmanship and a modern simplicity that in 1909 was something extraordinary to behold. Imagine being 21, having the squeeze into a corset every day, and one day this woman comes along and says you don't have to wear that corset anymore - straight is in. Needless to say she became very famous and successful very quickly and the reputation of the House has been consistantly respected as the most exquisite haute couture the industry has to offer. When Karl Lagerfeld took over the line in 1983, he renewed that sense of freedom and elegance to the line, maintaining the basic Chanel staple silhouettes and textile choices.
This season's collection was ridiculously good. It appeals to two types of people. It's got the classic tweed jackets and the lace etc, but Lagerfeld has paired the black lace with black leather to make long straiht dresses. The most delightfully surprising thing about the collection was the presence of lots of baggy pants and tops, giving the collection a tom boy feel that has been missing from Chanel for decades. These are clothes that both, the fashionistas who love the luxury will wear, as well as the regular women like me who realize you've gotta wear flats when you're running around the city with garment bags and sewing machines. AmIRightLadies??
I just loved it. And if I become a millionaire in the next little while, I'll be sure to buy up the whole line. LOL.

Anyways I think this is an amazing step in the right direction for Chanel and definitely for the industry as a whole. After all, Dolce and Gabanna are making matching hers and hers suits and dresses, and Louis Vuitton is making women soldiers and body guards! Love it!

Short and sweet and I'm off to write about what I've been dying to write about for weeks - check out my reviews of the John Galliano and Christian Dior shows at this season's Paris Fashion week. ;)

The Drama and the Glamour: The Debut of Fall 2011 Paris Fashion Week

You'll have to excuse the lateness of this post, I've been recovering from Galliano-related fashion depression for days now. More on that in it's own post, some other day. For now, I'd like to review the first of my favorite Parisd Fashion Week collections: three of the classic French fashion houses: The Houses of Balmain, Lanvin and Balenciaga.

I first looked at the lineup for PFW, I counted no less than fifteen shows that I wanted to see as soon as they hit the runway. I was delighted to see that the House of Balmain would be the first real eye popper on the list this season. The House got its debut at the end of the Second World War with Pierre Balmain, a man who would later be the tutor of the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and colleague of Coco Chanel. He would have been proud this season to view the new and interesting direction that the designer, Christophe Decarnin and his new stylist Melanie Ward, having only just started with the company this season. The collection was much less punky, as it has been in the past, but still maintained the edge the line is known for. This season instead the collection is almost disco inspired with a lot of metallics floating around. I'm absolutely crazy about those horizontal striped dresses...mmmm....

The Lanvin show is always something special, especially since the House's designer Alber Elbaz took the reigns. The history of the House is fantastic. Jeanne Lanvin, a French housewife in the early 20th century designed and constructed dresses for her daughters to wear on a daily basis. From this modest beginning, in 1909 she was creating dresses for the most powerful women in Europe and was inducted into the Syndicat de la Couture, making her a bonified Couturier. This season's collection was much akin to the tone of austerity, but in a very chic way, of course. Big black coat after big black coat made its way down the runway, but all under the shadow of extra wide brimmed hats reminiscent of 1940s maul-wear. The lovely accessories and the little flowy, sexy dresses were amazing too. All around it was a wearable, practical, beautiful show.

Finally, we had the House of Balenciaga, one of my absolute Paris favorites. Cristobal Balenciaga (wicked name!) was the founder and original designer of the house and was so renouned in his time that he was referred to by Christian Dior himself as "the master of us all". Though, like Balmain, we always expect a certain roughness about the line, known for its fabulous period jackets and the highest quality luxury goods, this season was full of over-sized florals, large shapeless coats (much like Prada, or pretty much any other designer this season...) and geometric patterns. They did manage to keep their rather somber, straight faced attitude with their clothing though, offering large fishnet inspired tops and

It seems simplicity is in this year guys, have you guessed?
I'll be back tomorrow to talk about the Vivienne Westwood, Yohji Yamamoto and Jean Paul Gualtier shows this week in Paris!