UGH I am so lazy with this blog. I was half way through posting about Fall Couture when I couldn't decide what to write about Chanel (I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS) and then kind of stopped.
Obviously a mad panic attack is now ensuing because it's been weeks and I haven't posted the Fall Couture lines. Or the Resort lines! Oh lord don't get me started on the Resort lines.
Anyway, it's 7.30 in the morning and I haven't slept all night so I'm reaching this weird state where my brain is in so much pandemonium it's gone into limbo. I'm just assuming this is what's going on because the washing machine has started next to my room and it's getting increasingly difficult to stop my brain from melting.
HERE ARE SOME COLLECTIONS:
Maybe I'm just hugely ignorant or have early on-set amnesia (does this exist?) but I have never heard of Alexis Mabille. I did a little delving (so as not to seem as silly as I obviously am) and discovered the French designer has worked with Nina Ricci, Ungaro and John Galliano after recieving his diploma a year early (in 1997). And he is most renowned for his bow ties! (Oo la-la).
This line is so incredible because it is made up, for the most part, of those pieces you can dress up or dress down, which is exactly Alexis' point. I think the official term for it is 'versatility'.You get the idea when you look at the whole line and notice how certain pieces reappear (i.e. the jacket in images 1 and 3) - THIS IS NOT BECAUSE HE RAN OUT OF CLOTHES. Or it could be and this could be an awesome cover. Anyway, you should check it out.
Oh and also, you might be familiar with his Spring Couture line.
I am Karl the Great and for my next trick I will JUST HAVE A REALLY BIG GOLD LION. NO TRICK IT'S JUST AWESOME. Oh, Chanel. You know I adore you. But I couldn't get in to this one. Chanel is so wonderfully created and technically a total masterpiece, that when it comes to couture lines it's a lot harder to make a distinction between what is ready to wear and what is couture.
Maybe it was because I didn't like the shoes. I loved the palette, and I'm not just running in fright because Karl didn't turn out any long dresses this collection, I just generally thought it was pretty toned down for couture. It probably needed more jewelry. Even the hair was very ready to wear (Oh dear that rhymed. What to do whattodoooo). Anyway, you may kill me now. (I want to say You may feed me to the lions, but I just can't be that corny).
Oh hello, didn't I see a movie to do with this? NOPE, BECAUSE NOTHING THIS BEAUTIFUL HAS EVER HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE. (I really set myself up for that firecracker!). Ahhh Christian Dior. You have to sigh when you mention anything to do with John Galliano, in that - oh it's so wonderful and lovely and amazing and dreamy - sigh.
It took so much self restraint not to post this whole collection, and only enough so you get the image of a flower blooming. You got that, right? This is one of the few collections I've seen that I didn't have to read a review to get the theme. Mostly I just make up the themes myself though, because you know, art is what you make of it.
Apparently Galliano studied flowers for ages just to pull this together. Not that I'm surprised. I am surprised that it's for Fall though, it would be so perfect for Spring! I really need to talk about the materials (which I am pretty sure include every material under the sun, with the exception of corduroy, of course) and the colours which were so, just, vivid and how the simplest idea can inspire total masterpieces. And the hair pieces! But I would be gobsmacked if anyone read a post this long.
No matter though. It would have been the stand out of the day in my opinion, if it hadn't been for Givenchy. Ahh Givenchy.
I'll never understand why people believe in Jesus when real life gods like Riccardo Tisci exist. This Givency collection is pretty much everything I image when I think of utter and complete beauty. Who could deny this, honestly? I don't even know where to begin because I'm re-entering shock and forgetting how to type.
Chantilly lace, ostrich feathers, fringing and baboon fur. OH and the ornaments! Each of these pieces is a total work of art. 98% chance I would faint if I ever touched one. NO. 99%. The colours are so light, but you get a really heavy Gothic feel I think - if it did have stains of dark I would definitely be calling this Neo Romantic. I will probably call it that anyway. It has this underlying tone of armor - especially around the middle - as well as this haunting density (you could hardly call it light) laced in between Romantic prints and the falling silk.
It's that mix of hard and soft to create something really beautiful. Wow. Just wow.
I don't want to call it a mess. This collection has been picked apart a bit because of Jean Paul Gaultier's inability to live up to previous expectations. This seems to work out well for me because I never really loved Gaultier, so my expectations were never that high. I don't know how the 1920s doesn't come to mind for a lot of fashion journalists. I mean, feather in a hat, that shiny prom dress material (the name escapes me now, I know it's ghastly), how are you not envisioning long cigarette holders and the earliest days of Coco Chanel?
I guess what I really got from it was that element of ritz. I want to think of a word that is less kitch, but I just can't force myself to say luxurious. It was hard to tie these elements together. I guess this is because - as has been pointed out to me - the collection was more of a reference to Jean Paul himself then a real theme. That's awesome, but it also makes it a total nightmare. How one can even begin to illustrate the many layers of a person; on any given day my style can change about five times (maybe subtly, but still), not to mention my mood.
What I will say I loved about the collection was the styling. The outfit JStam is wearing in the third image made me rethink the entire line. And most of the outfits individually I would love to see in an editorial, but here, they just didn't piece together well enough.
I have to talk about Valentino, just because of how much I disliked it. I was pretty passive about Armani, Bouchra and Saab, so I didn't bother mentioning them, but I don't think I can go past this. Firstly, puppy dogs. I can't stop thinking about puppy dogs when I look at the huge fur cuffs on the first dress (I'm thinking a poodle) or the array of bows on the third dress (Maltese Schitzu?).
Moreover, who is this line being pitched to? The bird cage (Image four) is obviously some sort of Gaga exclusive, and the rest of the dresses have this weird semi-formal feeling. Maybe I'm just bitter because McQueen did a (notably better) version of the cage pattern in his Spring 2007 line.
So that's it - the five week late run down of the Fall shows. Should I say better late than never?
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