*EllaH said:
Thank you for putting it so well, last season was definately too much for me, this collection is much more my cup of tea. It's a collection very true to it's label, also very different from Ghesquiere's last few collection. The detailing here is beautiful, yet not too overwhelming.
You're most welcome.
I'm glad to hear from someone who shared the same feelings about the last season's collection, I felt like a contrarian when everyone was gushing over what seemed to me dated and too facile interpretation of "luxury" and like the reviewer said, "mega haut bourgeois."
As for the critic, personally, I don't know what the reviwer means when he says the silhouette is too extreme as I'm already wearing this egg shape this winter, not as beautifully executed as these, of course, but versions of it you can find in smaller, edgier, *cheaper* boutiques. Why wouldn't clothes that make you look Twiggy skinny (and are comfortable to wear) catch on like wild fire? The complaint that plump women would look bulbous is also moot, last season's gothic lolita rococco frills and huge baroque skirts would be even more ridiculous on big women, and silly on almost every female over age 15.
The plaid now, look carefully at the way the window-pane check pieces are executed into curve shapes with a fetish to precision, that's luxury. You can tuck a lot of things behind frills, but there's nowhere to hide when every shape, edge, seam has to be skillfully constructed to be symmetrical and proportional. To me, plaid is as classic as houndstooth or stripes, and is very difficult to work with in tailored clothes (I'm not talking about grunge shirts) as they are graphically unforgiving, unlike say, prints. Any small mistake and it would look off.
I do agree with the criticisms that the collection is too retro and archival, but then so are edwardian/baroque refernces. For a while now, I have this insane urge to dress like one of the absurd women in the French 60s New Wave films, Bridgitte Bardot in Contempt, Delphine Seyrig in Last Year in Marienbad, Anna Karina, etc. because of recent re-releases from Criterion of a lot of 60s classics. Well, for men, Jean-Paul Belmondo has been making an appearance in all those skinny suits and pork-pie hats...There is something right in the zeigeist of that period for today's aesthetics, a stirring against an ultra-conservative mainstream that was embodied in the 50s ideal, small high waists, big poufy skirt, "lady" to the max. In that regard, this is as Parisian as it gets.
I like this direction as an alternative to the deconstructed layers that have been the contemporary foil for the period frills.
A lot of flaws, but such a desirable collection.
