Christian Dior Haute Couture S/S 2013 Paris

[Nymphaea]

I've just had a look at the details and I love the jewelry and white headpieces! Did I miss any handbags?!

 

[thiago:)]

I REALLY love this dress I haven't seen any other as beautiful as it for a long time. It might be the highlight of the collection for me.

 

[Melancholybaby]

Full Show

 

[fierceboi]

There are definitely some highlights but some of the dresses were hideous and the over abundance of "spriggy" embroideries really get on my nerves. If its a new vision for the house, I would presume a lighter hand in embellishment and just focus on silhouettes.

 

[fiqary]

That was a wonderful show. It was beautiful.

I love the styling, the makeup & hair was really gorgeous. The setting! Beautiful runway.

Most of the pieces are nice. Overall it was good.

 

[Fabulyss]

Yikes. Nothing about this looks couture, it looks ready to wear (and bad RTW at that).

 

[Perickles]

This is best than the other collections by Raf Simons, at least these outfits don't look like office wear.

 

[prettypouf]

After watching the full show (enjoying the rather sweet, relaxing music too) and seeing some HQ's, I have so much more appreciation for the detail and love that went into this collection. Bravo. <3
But that said, how does everyone feel about the sparkly lips? I'm on the fence. If it's an homage to Galliano's make-up in the past, it's a rather poor one IMO.

 

[Scott]

JANUARY 21, 2013
PARIS
By Tim Blanks

When Raf Simons read Christian Dior's autobiography during his summer break in Puglia, he found unexpected parallels with his own state of mind, particularly in Dior's love of the countryside, the garden he would retreat to, the flowers he grew there. "There was such purity in that story," said Simons after his lyrical sophomore show for Dior Couture this afternoon. Lately he's been satisfying his own need to retreat into nature in his parents' garden in the village he grew up in, the place he once couldn't wait to leave. But Simons' appetite for nature was satisfied by an altogether different kind of garden today.

As a metaphor for rebirth, spring can't be beat. It was always an especially big deal for Belgians, according to Simons. So he made spring come early for Dior with a collection that literalized the fashion season, evolving from sky shades of early spring evenings to a full-scale (in every way, Stephen Jones' bonnets included) celebration of the spring bride. One of Simons' preliminary goals at Dior has been, he claimed, to connect with the company's long-timers. That came through in the workmanship in today's show, as though he'd set challenges for the atelier's artisans to meet.

Flowers have offered infinite possibilities to Dior's petits mains since Christian himself was at the helm. You could take your pick from the special effects today: beading so delicate it was almost invisible, a trompe l'oeil drift of pansies across a waistband, a cocoon of embroidered and appliquéd blooms. There is something so utterly intense about couture handwork that it can still the noise in a room—Simons' own awe was palpable in these garments.

He has spoken about bringing more reality to couture. It would be a miracle if he didn't feel that way. The pants, the pockets in skirts—they were all part of that. At the same time, you have to wonder why someone would take on a couture house unless they were going to explore every permutation of possible. Simons said his first couture collection for Dior was shaped by the archive. Here, he talked about an urge to let go. The asymmetry, the déconstrué aspect, the organic flou were reflections of that. But so was the sleekly constructed quality Simons described as futurist. It was ingeniously precise in architectural layers: gilet over bustier over one skirt over another skirt. Hair and makeup helped: Pat McGrath's crystal lips, Guido Palau's pixie wigs. Dior's favorite model apparently had a similar haircut. The designer also mentioned Audrey Hepburn, and Janet Leigh in Psycho. "A woman who dares to be different," he said.

Bracket this show with the men's collection he presented under his own name last Wednesday, and it becomes clear that Simons contains worlds. He describes his own as "dark and conceptual." The world he is creating for Dior is the opposite: serene, full of color and light. What connects the two is his purity of vision, and the endearing innocence with which it goes hand in hand. But when Simons took Haute Couture back to the garden this season, he opened up another world, and this one's our favorite. It's that world of infinite possibilities.

*style.com

and that explanation in bold is probably why i get this strong belgian feel about this somehow. you even see colours of the belgian flag. the more i look the more like it. there's a poetry about it.

 

[CholoChic]

Such a boring work really.

 

[disco54]

Some of this is ok but lots of it looks like boring clinical office clothes, sorry but it does.

 

[Dann]

Some of this is ok but lots of it looks like boring clinical office clothes, sorry but it does.

I'd like to work in your office, where can I submit my resume?

 

[lady stardust]

Love most of it..the colors and of course the beautiful embroidery and the cutting is great. Not sure about the styling and I don't like the shoes.

 

[BlasianOne]

This just isn't DIOR... I enjoyed a few looks but overall I don't feel the essence of DIOR

 

[Morphe]

This just isn't DIOR... I enjoyed a few looks but overall I don't feel the essence of DIOR

src: ohnotheydidn't

 

[Perickles]

I have seen the show and I really like this collection is one of the best.

 

[Scott]

This just isn't DIOR... I enjoyed a few looks but overall I don't feel the essence of DIOR

so if not this,what is your definition of the essence of dior then? and remember,dior does actually predate galliano....in fact it predates his birth

 

[miguelalmeida]

Christian Dior was all about refined clothes, with intricate details, he loved architecture, that's why he created some excellent and different shapes & silhouettes like no one has ever saw. He was crazy about flowers and their smell, and he did very simple, clean, with a very straight and strong message collections with extraordinary atention to details, for him details were everything.

Raf is the perfect fit, both love architecture and flowers, and he follows & re-invents in his own way the key codes that Monsieur Dior created and built his brand.

The crazy girl, with crazy make-up, and crazy hair & all that I loved every bit of Galliano's show and every single story that he told us, but he isn't there anymore, so she's gone...and now we are left with the return of the real Dior woman!

Embrace change when it's a good thing, like this specific case!

See people who question what Dior is... this is Christian Dior at his couture atelier:

source: vogue.co.uk

p.s. I think Raf used this photo as inspiration for this collection! And if you search for Christian Dior photos, the majority of photos of him in his atelier doing the collections includes floral motifs and embroidery.

 

[Scott]

^my point exactly. this is very much the true essence that dior was built on. thank you for providing that. and i commend raf for giving that aspect of this house's history the respect and attention it deserves the most. to me it is what was most influential about this house.

 

[Nymphaea]

Make up at Dior Haute Couture Spring 2013
The lips are divine!

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