And so the day arrived when I actually looked forward to something from Monsieur Lagerfeld...
First of all, I love the idea of a Twenties short film. It looks very authentic and not so tacky as I would have presumed something made with today's digital cameras and their "perfect" and cold style. I am looking forward to seeing the whole ten-minute clip.
As for the collection. It is very, very Christian Lacroix. Karl seems to have also taken something else from Christian - this time he hasn't plastered the double-Cs everywhere (I could only find one with a quick glance).
The pieces seem well constructed and there are some I really adore (you see, I have finally managed to see that behind the awful logomania and egomania Lagerfeld has, he can construct beautiful clothes which, when taken out of the Chanel/Lagerfeld setting, actually prove to be some of the best in the industry). On the other hand, it is a bit too boxy at times... sometimes I get the feeling that Lagerfeld hasn't really put effort to all of the pieces. Some pieces are simply beautiful and then there are those which seem a bit like "fillings" to create a whole collection.
As for the theme. Imperial Russia, or Imperial anything, has been done quite similarly by McQueen (although I always thought McQueen's collection was more about the era of British Empire and Indian maharadzas than Russia) - and I am sure Lacroix has derived inspiration from the same source before too. It would be interesting to see what the collection would look like without the hats and headdresses... would we be instantly thinking of Imperial Russia? Yet I think that perhaps Lagerfeld has tried to take a more understated point-of-view to the theme, which can easily turn to costume-y. This is more subtle than McQueen.
I am not very educated about the fashion of Imperial Russian court... but somewhere I got the impression that it was actually pretty much along the lines of French fashion, at least in the 18th and 19th centuries? Hence this doesn't really bring to my mind Imperial Russia as strongly as it does bring the folk costumes of Russia... but perhaps I am just ignorant about this. And do we mean by "Imperial Russia" the court or the people? I am getting confused.
If and when this ends up at editorials, I hope they will incorporate these pieces with ones from other designers, NOT create the whole costume-look as with Alexander McQueen's similar collection.
Hope to see some video soon, can't wait for the music!
There were some big stars there, and so far no pics...
With that said, this is one of my favorite Chanel collections in quite awhile (despite my slightly negative lead-up).
