Paris Haute Couture Week is the most beautiful times of year in fashion. The designs shown this past week for Spring/Summer 2010 were no exception. The hand crafted designs feature flawless detailing and range between £30,000 to £300,000. Haute Couture is exclusive and expensive, purchased by the elite, fawned over by the masses. Even if you don’t recognize the importance of fashion, anyone can recognize the artistic beauty of these avant-garde designs.
Showcasing the remaining designers of what is argued to be a dying art, three design houses stood out for me this week.
Inspired by the 1930’s and ‘40’s American socialite, John Galliano depicted a lifestyle of leisure. Equestrian looks complete with four-foot whips and top hats, and evening gowns with cinched waists and long, elegant gloves. The models featured pale complexions and windblown bouffant (set by curling hair around balloons). Galliano paid tribute to the beauty of high society in an economy and culture that has forgotten it.
Chanel surprised audiences when their classic black dress and tweed suits were noticeably absent from their runway. Described by Karl Lagerfeld as “neon baroque”, the collection featured an acid-and-silver palate. Lagerfeld was quick to denounce ideas that the collection was futuristic, saying, "I don't believe in avant-garde clothes for a future that will never happen. Fashion is always now." Accessorized with Minnie-mouse hair and ankle boots, the models appeared young and ethereal. The bride and groom finale featured designs that were painstakingly detailed. The bride’s cape took 200 hours to make, with another 350 hours to embroider the sequin, pearls and crystals on the back of the dress. Expect nothing less from the Kaiser.
Joseph Thimster took Jean Paul Gaultier’s bloody boxing ring to a more sophisticated level, basing his collection on “war, sorrow, and destruction”. Featuring blood soaked reds, war dirt browns, worn army greens and soiled ivories. The thin, rosy cheeked models were fashion warriors, stomping the runway battlefield.
The other designers featured this week include:
Valentino
Jean Paul Gaultier
Elie Saab
Stéphane Rolland
Armani
Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy
Christophe Josse
Alexis Mabille
Anne Valérie Hash
Check out UK's Telegraph and Coutorture for more details and pictures.
For your own runway experience, check out Calvin Harris' Colors, featured during New York Fashion Week F/W 2009 for the Generra show.
(Photos from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/fashion/26iht-rdior.html and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/paris-haute-couture-week/)
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