Christian Dior S/S 2007 Paris

[Karl.Popper]

Yes, Axl Rose jokes aside, pretty much everything in that collection wasn't cliched. What a fantastic collection, that. I'm also baffled by comments from people who claim that 'normal' Galliano isn't wearable - wtf? A lot of his menswear isn't wearable... but Galliano for Dior is eminently wearable: Autumn Winter 06/07 is goth death-rock chic par excellence.

Equally baffling is the suggestion that Galliano has finally 'gone simple' and that when he 'does things simply' what he turns out is wearably enjoyable. This is erroneous on two counts. First - he did do natural, simple and airy for last spring summer - lots of chiffon and natural flesh colours - certainly nothing much more complicated than what he is doing now, aesthetically speaking. Second and more importantly, he did that collection far better than this one, thematically, execution wise, and so on.

When one contrasts SS07 with the preceding two seasons, it's hard to be persuaded that 'wearability' and simplicity is much of an improvement over the past two seasons.

 

[dior_couture1245]

the video is now up on dior.com.
i am really not fond of the idea of xtina's music for this collection, it almost kills it. i would've preferred strings or something.

Tell me about it.....for me, the music makes or breaks the show....and this one breaks it, which is SO unfortunate seeing as how great a collection this is!!!

 

[JuiceMajor]

Review by Suzy Menkes
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Searching for emotion at polite Dior and larky Valentino

By Suzy Menkes International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2006


In his decade at Dior, John Galliano has produced shows of memorable intensity. From nymphs wafting among rose petals and the glass of a fallen chandelier, through the reincarnation of Marchesa Luisa Casati and her manic romanticism to a Mad Max mix of bestial past and fearsome future.

But the collection that the inventive British designer sent out for Dior this season was polite and tame - although often beautiful. The pallid, draped dresses and loose suits in beige, greige and the same institutional khaki green as the cupola of the soaring Grand Palais, did not excite a nerve-tingling emotion.

The clothes may be fine for the Olsen twins, Ashley and Mary-Kate, who were sitting in celebrity heaven in Dior's front row. Silken dresses with artful drapes (but worn without the short-bang Joan of Arc hairdos) may land on the red carpet, where the Phantom of the Opera star Emmy Rossum, another guest, would find her resonant beauty framed by chained hems and lace flowers.

But this was not the Galliano that the fashion world adores and pardons for his excesses in equal measure. Backstage, the designer boasted that his elegant pin-striped suit and his dashing fedora, by the British milliner Stephen Jones, was the same outfit he had worn for his debut Dior collection 10 years ago.

Maybe it is time to bring the line back closer to Christian Dior's aesthetic, which had a dashing romance, at least in the early years. Does Galliano really want to take Dior from bourgeois elegance, march it up a mountain of inventiveness - and then bring it back down again?

The theme was a watery, diluted version of the astounding "Armor Mon Amour" couture collection that Galliano sent out in July, a show filled with the awesome might of the designer's imaginative talent.

"Joan of Arc - but in a more abstract way," the designer said about his spring/summer 2007 ready-to-wear. So tectonic plates of armor were reduced to articulated slashes in the sleeves or overlapping hems on loose cotton jackets or woolen suits. There were also a lot of silver chains. (But aren't they a Chanel signature?) The metal-edged hems, the chains laid like embroidery and metallic rings used like beads made for some lovely evening dresses. They were the most graceful rendition of the chain-mail story that we have seen this season.

The accessories, too, were Joan of Arc: bags with slithering metal mesh handles, smaller metallic purses and shoes that had a whisper of a sexual charge in their pointed chain-mail toes and curving, hawk's-beak heels.

Galliano and the house of Dior are caught in a bind. Criticized for too much fantasy on the runway, this show was an outward and visible signal to the wider public of what the pros know: that creative ecstasy can be used to juice up the wearable clothes that buyers crave in the showroom.

But somehow this show, with its mildly voluminous suits (read "loose- fitting"), its draped silk jersey tops with narrow pants and pretty evening dresses, has swung too far toward good sense. Let us hope for fashion that Galliano does not stifle his song when we know that he still has so much music in him.

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[Spike413]

^ All in all that pretty much sums up my feelings.

 

[Karl.Popper]

lol! So Suzy Menkes agrees with me. I don't read fashion journalism, so I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. But she is spot on - the directionless tepidity of this collection is not something to be celebrated - contra the many learned opinions on here.

I suspect that many who claim 'unwearability' (in previous seasons of Dior) do so only because they can't imagine themselves wearing it - the cardinal sin of mistaking your own inability to pull off a piece of clothing for a defect in that piece of clothing. It doesn't work that way.

When the early indications were that people who usually disliked Dior actually liked this collection, I told myself that it wasn't a good sign. A prognosis sadly and shortly to be proven right.

 

[stilettogirl84]

well undoubtedly Galliano will hold nothing back next fall if he pays atterntion to the article

 

[justinleaddict]

I have to agree...

As great as this still is, I would have loved to see something really exciting. Those are the kinds of shows that I remember..

And the music wasn't done very creatively, unfortunately. That is one of my favorite parts of any show too.

And, might as well ask here...

Can someone upload the video please?

 

[cavanaugh]

i too agree the music was a bit of a let-down...although i can see why galliano picked it. but i still stand behind the collection, i thought it was great.

 

[MissMagAddict]

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[stilettogirl84]

the evening stuff is just really pretty!

 

[MissMagAddict]

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[MissMagAddict]

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[MissMagAddict]

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[FASHIONLOVA]

Galliano can never win, can he?
When he goes all out, typical crazy him version, people say that what goes on the runway is not wearable. When he simplifies everything, people complain that it's too simple and not him. Well maybe those people should make up their mind.
Galliano is Galliano, whether he shows simple pieces or over the top couture gowns. he s the same Great Genius that we all Love.
It just needs time to get used to a collection like this one, but overall it's just as amazing as his previous ones

 

[Salvatore]

^ ^
Exactly, well said.

 

[Yimi]

Galliano: my favourite she-male boy...

Ohhhhhh!
I have see all whole the collection
and just can say that I like
because it is simple
and
Galliano crazy stuff suddenly becomes
into amazing little details...

I just like imaging
Galliano choosing and looking for
the most exquisite grey an opaque shades...
And that stuning drapings
they are exaclty made by magician hands
or maybe the shoes makes me remember of Harry Potter...
but i like it, I like it, I like it!!!

Another season more
and after tasting so many collections
I start understanding why Galliano work is my favourite loved and unique
just for that simple word that his work is:
♥ beautiful ♥


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