Christian Dior HC F/W 08.09 Paris

[cygnenoir]

Oh, thank goodness!

The last few collections had me worried about what we were going to see today. This isn't my absolute favorite of all time, but I do like the direction it's going. I'm happy that there's not too much crossover from A/W RTW.

I love that Galliano is still incorporating the New Look silhouette. I also love the Asian obi-ish belts, kimono styling, sheer fabrics and the 20's hats. Overall, it's much sleeker. I'm glad he has kept the embroidery simpler and the colors more muted than in past HC collections. I know couture is all about the fine details but all that shiny neon embroidered fabric from Spring HC made my brain hurt.

I still don't like animals prints though.

 

[carmen_kass]

Redemption

 

[TheVeed]

I'm the only one who liked his use of leopard print haha. Oh well. I love the collection, though.

 

[KKnardi]

Christian Dior collection reflects the style of France's first lady

Suzy Menkes: iht.com PARIS: In the shadow of the death of Yves Saint Laurent but in the sunshine of a stylish first lady, the Paris couture season opened on Monday. And a vision of veiled flesh seen through silhouettes from couture's golden age was a triumph of light-handed seduction at Christian Dior.

The feline-faced models with arched eyebrows and succulent, shiny lips were so much in the spirit of Carla Bruni Sarkozy that you half expected her to appear at the finale in the vista of a pillared garden. And the approach that the designer John Galliano has taken in dressing the wife of the French president was the soul of this autumn-winter show: incisive cutting on clothes molded to the body, with a subterranean sexual charge. Or, in the case of this runway, with a sensual shadow of a leg visible through a semi-sheer skirt.

It was time for Galliano to move from haute fantasy to fantastic haute couture and maybe it was the reality of dressing a beautiful woman for the modern world that has saved him from himself. The models had stepped metaphorically down from their pedestals - even if the shoes were still fetishistic platforms of straps. The full-skirted white coat that opened the show and a myriad of light cocktail dresses all created a parade of wearable ultra glamour (once you invested in a slip). Nothing was mired in Dior's history or heavy with the imprint of the past - although the ultimate in craftsmanship was a recreation of Dior's famous Venus gown, its structure as light as the embroidered feathers.

"Seeing Irving Penn pictures of Lisa Fonssagrives," said Galliano backstage, to describe his inspiration - graphic fashion images that the iconic photographer took of his favourite model who became his wife in the 1950s.

Galliano reproduced the shapes from those photographs but not the substantial construction. So dresses with a corset piece molding the waist or a crocodile jacket cinched at the center held together soufflés of fabric. All the materials - even animal print fabrics - were as light as the workers in the Dior atelier could make a tulle dress appliquéd with tiny strips of tan leather or wool and cotton embroidery on fine organza.

Although this was theoretically a winter collection, the colors were poetic and summery, as black and white, like those Penn images, gave way to aquatints of eau de nil, lilac and lime.

For once, the star-studded front row, from the actress Liv Tyler to the singer Janet Jackson, were talking not about the extraordinary spectacle but the divine clothes. And Bernard Arnault, who has supported Galliano through success and excess, must have been as pleased that Dior has come back to a rarefied reality as that the house has beat out its rivals in dressing Bruni Sarkozy.

"Of course we are proud and honored to dress the first lady of France," said Arnault. "But it is her choice - and she chose us."

 

[Zzyzx]

LOVE this collection, except the shoes. The evening gowns are so gorgeous, the one on Caroline is a dream

 

[vogue28]

^ thanks for the article.

 

[capt.charly]

thanks KKnardi

 

[izzie stevens]

Personally, I love the shoes. And the gowns, oh, the gowns! Stunning! He's definitely redeemed himself.

 

[Street_a_Licious]

everything looks so light. it's really nice (not yet gorgeous tho). but look at what we had to put up last season! this is THE SHIZZNIZZ compared to last season.

 

[BerlinRocks]

Madame Lisa Fonssagrive - Penn :
artnet / cultural - pie

 

[r0b0tj0n3z]

hq


[wireimage]

 

[KKnardi]

janet jackson and jd sat in the frontrow.

 

[KKnardi]

Madame Lisa Fonssagrive - Penn :
artnet / cultural - pie

sophistication!

 

[Street_a_Licious]

okay, i stand to what i said. the last collection that really wow'ed me, was the Japanese one.

 

[r0b0tj0n3z]

hq


[afp]

 

[CholoChic]

I love see lots of exquisite pieces, well worked, soft colors, amazing corsetery and delicate cuts...

 

[r0b0tj0n3z]

hq


[afp]

 

[r0b0tj0n3z]

hq


[afp]

 

[212DRESSINGROOM]

I'm the only one who liked his use of leopard print haha. Oh well. I love the collection, though.

I liked the leopard print too. It was well done. I love a good leopard print!

 

[dior_couture1245]

I'd like to see him move away from the 40's-50's decade soon. It's getting tiresome. I like a great deal of this collection, but I would have loved to have seen some simple, stunning, sensual bias cut gowns instead.