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Castelbajac F/W 06.07 Paris
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susie_bubble
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Ok then....someone is in love with UK!
I've gotta laugh at this really........it's just so camp and kitsch - I mean, I thought I'd seen it all after the S/S06 Comme des Garcons collection but this just takes the biscuit! The only thing I would consider wearing is that red strapless dress.
I've gotta laugh at this really........it's just so camp and kitsch - I mean, I thought I'd seen it all after the S/S06 Comme des Garcons collection but this just takes the biscuit! The only thing I would consider wearing is that red strapless dress.
well, it's very entertaining. i could picture this as the wardrobe in a psychedelic seventies' movie.
I guess this is the difference between Rei, who can take kitsch and still produce something interesting on its grounds, and someone who has no talent and will interpret kitsch literally. This is hideous and meaningless - a waste of a catwalk.
fashionista-ta
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I am inexplicably charmed by the castle coat--very Mary Engelbreit 
...Castelbajac: eighties renaissance man
By Vanessa Friedman
Published: February 28 2006 12:27 | FT.com
By Vanessa Friedman
Published: February 28 2006 12:27 | FT.com
It really began last season, the winds of eighties change. There was a sneaking,Versace-in-the-Gianni-years influence underlying many collections from Balenciaga to Louis Vuitton; an Azzedine Alaia touch at Alexander McQueen and Givenchy. This season, it’s only got stronger, with slinky jerseys at Gucci, leggings and men’s jackets and oversized T-shirt dresses at MaxMara, and miniskirts pretty much everywhere.
In other words, we’re cycling through the sartorial clichés of the greed decade, from Amazonian goddess to pop culture kitsch, and that means we’re cycling through design inspirations: from the aforementioned Versace, Alaia and co, through to the more niche names such as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Remember him?
Famous for his wacky, absurdist creations such as a coat made of teddy bears (an ironic commentary on the fur trade notoriously worn by Madonna) and a Campbell’s soup dress, and for his collaborations with art world figures such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat (long before Marc Jacobs made the idea trendy and lucrative chez Vuitton), as well as for outfitting the Pope (in 1997, for World Youth Day), de Castelbajac fell out of general favour in the minimalist nineties.
Now, the question is: can he come back? And if so, how far? On street level, his resurgence is pretty far advanced: in London’s grime club scene, MCs have been favouring Castelbajac’s oversize Snoopy sweaters for a while now, and, reportedly, have so much affection for the designer they have nicknamed him JC/DC. Meanwhile, London’s Victoria & Albert museum is also betting this is his moment, with a Castelbajac retrospective, “Propaganda,” which opened last month. According to curator Valerie Wilcox, the reason is simple: Castelbajac’s work is directly related to the current “climate of individualism” in fashion, which has seen a swathe of consumers turn away from the megabrands and towards the more idiosyncratic, designer-led labels.
On a business level too, a Castelbajac wave seems to be building: Marchpole, the British manufacturing and distribution company that also produces Ungaro and Yves Saint Laurent men’s wear (among others), bought his label two years ago. It is rolling out sports wear and accessories and is mulling over an expansion into homewares. And four years ago the French group Rossignol enlisted Castelbajac to design ski and snowboarding gear.
Still, on the current catwalk circuit, the fashion world is divided.
“I think it’s definitely going to be his moment,” says Isabella Blow, Tatler’s fashion director. “With all these 1980s references, it’s just a matter of time.” And not necessarily a lot of time. According to Hamish Bowles, American Vogue’s European editor-at-large, Castelbajac’s influence is already apparent.
“Castelbajac was one of the first designers to have that cultural connection with other disciplines that you see today in people like Hedi Slimane and Miuccia Prada,” says Bowles. “And I thought I saw of a bit of Castelbajac at Marc Jacobs in New York in some of the proportions and also in the playfulness of Giles.” Indeed, at Giles Deacon’s show in London bright poppy colours and cartoon appliqués recalled some of Castelbajac’s signature styles – not a surprise, given Deacon worked for the French designer for two years.
Besides, notes Bowles: “The V&A show is bound to have an impact on London designers, and that in turn impacts the wider fashion world.”
“Castelbajac has always been present in a way and much more so in the last year because of the collaborations he’s done, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a renaissance,” says Sarah (she prefers not to use her last name), head buyer for the French store Colette.
And yet, not everyone is thrilled at the prospect.
“Oh, I hope not,” says the New Yorker’s fashion director Michael Roberts. “To me, he was just a dilettante, and a terrible example of French humour. It was like bad pop art, and there’s nothing worse.”
“I don’t know,” agrees Giles Bensimon, editorial director of American Elle. “I didn’t like him very much the first time round. I’m not sure people will respond again.” In any case, some of those people will get a chance to decide for themselves today, when Castelbajac holds his first runway show for almost two years. The rest will have to wait until July, when autumn/winter collections begin to appear in shops – a chronological absurdity that might have been designed by Castelbajac himself.
Hye Park Lover
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Castelbajac was on the front page of my local newspaper, having made the headlines with his passionate outburst of good ol' English patriotism. There was also a whole page of pictures and an article dedicated to him. These three outfits were the lucky ones which made it into print. I pilfered the paper this morning but after having a squirm of excitement that anything even remotely fashion-related nevermind paris fashion week made it into my local fashion-siberia paper, I foolishly left it in Biology class....
I was going to scan it for you guys as well! Grrr all that effort wasted 
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