Christian Dior Haute Couture F/W 09.10 Paris

[Crying Diamonds]

I want to see the back of that yellow jacket.

 

[carrie_]

Some of the individual pieces are lovely, but the whole lingerie/garters/no pants thing seems to be just a gimmick to make the whole thing more edgy/naughty and modern, when the pieces are really just classic new look re-done. Meh.

 

[thiago:)]

Haha, maybe it's just me but the background reminds of ODLR

 

[*ana*]

the new look revival is a season-after-season déjà vu, and it may be getting a total bore, but i think the way john is presenting it this time is much more interesting than last season. i LOVE the nude shorts with the garter belts - the look begins in the head with a fabulous hat, than a classic new look jacket, but no skirt, no ruffles, no richness from the waist down. even the shoes aren't OTT, and i like them very much. all this underwear thing that's going on in this collection - the black bra, the corsets, etc - is surely not a new concept, and he's done something in this "direction" before, but the jacket/no skirt looks à la vogue paris (like someone mentioned) won me over, at least to the STYLING... about the makeup and hair, well, same old lisa fonssagrives face but with an 80s twist (the hair)... kind of interesting too.
i need to see the entire collection to decide whether i like it or not though, especially considering it's a couture collection...

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Most of the looks, not all! And in no particular order.
newscom.

Thanks so much for posting.

I think i like the explosion of all those colors.

 

[Spike413]

I can't help but feel that it's honestly kind of tragic that I and plenty of other posters are grasping onto the knickers and garters for dear life as if they're this exciting thing. That's literally the only jolt in this collection so far (and I have a feeling it'll remain the only jolt even after the full lineup is posted). It's sad that the excitement comes from what is essentially a styling trick. I mean, could we be more starved for something?

And seriously if I have to endure one more couture season of the pulled and shalaqued Dovima/Divine makeup I'm going to claw my own eyes out. Enough with the brows already, no biological woman wears them like that anymore!

 

[vogue28]

Love that Lilac Jacket!

 

[b9409]

I can't help but feel that it's honestly kind of tragic that I and plenty of other posters are grasping onto the knickers and garters for dear life as if they're this exciting thing. That's literally the only jolt in this collection so far (and I have a feeling it'll remain the only jolt even after the full lineup is posted). It's sad that the excitement comes from what is essentially a styling trick. I mean, could we be more starved for something?

And seriously if I have to endure one more couture season of the pulled and shalaqued Dovima/Divine makeup I'm going to claw my own eyes out. Enough with the brows already, no biological woman wears them like that anymore!

Yeah, he does love a high arch...

 

[mackos]

But once you get up above the hips, it's just the same, boring, unimaginative...terrible Dior. Hideous, pedestrian colors, tactless embroidery, garish animal prints, cheap pearls, terrible hair and makeup, ridiculous and amateur modeling poses...same old, same old.

Couldn't agree more. This is not the spirit of Christian Dior I've been expecting to be brought.

 

[Mr-Dale]

By Hilary Alexander at telegraph.co.uk

Is the recession biting so deeply that the models at Christian Dior cannot afford to get fully-dressed and have to take to the catwalk in their underwear?
Skirts worn with bras, jackets with girdles, or ooh-la-la, lacy French knickers, and ball gowns with longline corsets, were just some of the looks on show as the famous French fashion house literally unveiled its autumn/winter 09/10 haute couture collection, chez Dior, on the Avenue Montaigne, today.

However, this was hardly a question of cutting back (sales in London alone, according to Dior’s president and chief executive, Sidney Toledano, are showing a double-digit increase); it was more a question of stripping away in order to provide a unique glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes – and goes on underneath the exquisite designs – as some of the world’s most highly-paid models rush to get dressed for the show and make their entrance on the catwalk in some of the most expensive clothes on the planet.
The scenario, entitled “Fever in the Cabine”, was inspired by archive photographs from the 1950s of Mr. Christian Dior himself, presiding over the backstage mayhem.
Dior’s couturier in residence, John Galliano, however, took the concept to a more sensual extreme, providing a peekaboo parade of the gorgeous lingerie and underpinnings which create the famous Dior “hourglass” silhouette. The underwear and corsetry, in “midnight” lace and flesh-tone stretch, were in striking contrast to the powerful, electric and fluorescent colours of the designs.
The show opened with the legendary Dior “bar” jackets, in fuschia wool crepe, with jewel-encrusted sleeves, tightly-belted over flesh-tone lace knickers, or in violet wool bouclé, with a matching skirt, but accessorised with a visible, black mesh, suspender belt.
A lilac, wide-collared jacket was worn with seashell-pink lace “tap” pants and an orange satin “tulip” skirt with a vintage-style, 50s black bra. Lace knickers, suspenders and stockings were paired with a dramatic, black-and-white, zebra-print jacket; a leopard-print sheath dress was open at the bust to show an elaborate black lace bra; an embroidered, acid-yellow, wool-crepe coat, was folded-up, pannier-fashion, at each hip, to disclose saucy stocking-tops. Scalloped, lace petticoats flashed under the hem of an embroidered, nude-tone jersey dress and a fluorescent lime jacket came with a black, lace half-slip.
The underwear theme was carried through into the shoes, where straps were inspired by suspenders and bra-fastenings.
Not since Jean Paul Gaultier put Madonna into a rocket-cone bra, has a couturier been so enamoured of corsetry, nor designed such underwear that positively demands to be on show.
The head of Dior’s haute couture, Madame Catherine Riviere (eta: wait, who? should we blame her for the past years?), however, revealed that clients would be able to order the jackets with matching skirts, skirts with matching jackets or to request sheer petticoats be lined.

 

[Squizree]

I live the collection, but Dior Couture is barely fresh anymore. The vast variety of colours refreshing but there seems to be refereneces from the Dior archives everywhere. Especially from Hauet Couture Fall 2008 and RTW Fall 2007.

Also am I the only one who thinks the models look like Milfs??

 

[b9409]

However, this was hardly a question of cutting back (sales in London alone, according to Dior’s president and chief executive, Sidney Toledano, are showing a double-digit increase); it was more a question of stripping away in order to provide a unique glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes – and goes on underneath the exquisite designs – as some of the world’s most highly-paid models rush to get dressed for the show and make their entrance on the catwalk in some of the most expensive clothes on the planet.
The scenario, entitled “Fever in the Cabine”, was inspired by archive photographs from the 1950s of Mr. Christian Dior himself, presiding over the backstage mayhem.
Dior’s couturier in residence, John Galliano, however, took the concept to a more sensual extreme, providing a peekaboo parade of the gorgeous lingerie and underpinnings which create the famous Dior “hourglass” silhouette.

great!

Next time just send the seamstresses and dressmakers/atelier staff carrying rolls of fabric and trimmings down on the runway, if you want to show the 'unique glimpse of behind the scenes.'

God, these fashion journalists... the guy wanted to show flesh and create a buzz... that is about it. It is the cheapest tactic in the book, no matter how exquisite the materials were. No need to sugarcoat it, or make it look like anything else really. There is not anything that highly conceptual or cerebral here. It is just lace panties and straps, and pretty to look at.

Gianni did this like 20 years ago.

 

[BerlinRocks]

wait, who? should we blame her for the past years?)

i would have to ask a friend to confirm.
but the Head of Couture (Département Prestige) doesn't really have an impact on the collection. She only takes care of customers, the business, goes to dinner and lunch etc.
a stressfull job ...

 

[amor]

Wow, I would be more than satisfied if this was ready-to-wear. With couture I expect experiments and excitement. That said, this collection looks just right for Dior now. What John did for the past three years, pretty dinner suits and cocktail dresses, have put Dior back to where it belonged. After all it's a house for ladies, definitely not girls next door.
With clothes like these it could steal much of Chanel and Valentino's clientele. And I think we'll be seeing this kind of collections (at least for resort and ready-to-wear) for many years ahead.

 

[DJGroove]

Well, now we definitely know what Dior woman has underneath her skirt.

 

[amor]

Btw Kasia's outfit is my favorite. It brings back fond memories of the wonderful Fall 1997 couture colletion.

 

[Mr-Dale]

i would have to ask a friend to confirm.
but the Head of Couture (Département Prestige) doesn't really have an impact on the collection. She only takes care of customers, the business, goes to dinner and lunch etc.
a stressfull job ...

Aha, thanks!

Does anyone have the full collection ready to be posted by any chance?

 

[KKnardi]

What did the 120 women who are couture regulars make of the show? They may be happy to learn that the outfits will be offered with regular silk-lined skirts and jackets because John Galliano’s seductive collection was based on the fantasy of transparency: clothes so light that black stockings, garters and bared flesh made a shadowy appearance under a pleated orange skirt, and a curvy tailored jacket in bold fuchsia was worn over nothing but seamed stockings and silken panties. To garnish the succulent fashion menu, a corset might be molded on the outside of an outfit.

It was all a riff on the glory days of Christian Dior, when a glimpse of stocking was something shocking and it incorporated the very Parisian lust for luxurious underpinnings as a male and female fantasy.

“I call it ‘cabine’ fever!” said Mr. Galliano, referring to the backstage frenzy in a series of 1950s photographs of the Dior dressing rooms that showed the models in girdles and bras dressing for the shows.

There was no new direction here, for we have seen this inside/outside world before from the designer. But never has the delicacy seemed more delicious than as a close up and personal vision of pink flower embroideries on a white skirt worn with a nude-colored bra top. All the work of the Paris embroiderers was exquisite in its artistry and subtlety.

But this world of shifting chiffon and layered lace, not to mention shoes decorated with jeweled garters, also had a vibrant side. As if giving a second, hyper-colorful life to the pen-and-ink sketches of the illustrator René Gruau, Mr. Galliano made the classic Dior rounded jackets in vivid shades or in a zebra pattern of black and white.

“I loved the outside underwear and the black and flesh colors together,” said the petite actress Marion Cotillard, who was perched on Dior platform shoes so high she was on a level with Mr. Arnault.

The collection was Dior with attitude, in the sweeping hats, the winged eyeliner and in the posing of the models. But at its heart were conventional Dior clothes of the kind that Carla Sarkozy, the wife of the French president, wears so demurely. Yet this time, instead of imagining what lies beneath a prim exterior, the fantasy of undress was on general view as a sly celebration of haute couture.

suzy menkes, nytimes.com

 

[b9409]

Suzy really loves Galliano.

 

[avantgarde]

resort much?