Martin Grant S/S 06 Paris

[fashionista-ta]

Take music as an analogy. You have amazing musicians like Horowitz or Gould who play beautifully and even innovatively by creating new techniques with the piano, but they are not composers in the same way as Stravinsky or Beethoven. In fact, they play the compositions of these masters. It is only when they come out with their own original pieces that are different from others that they can be called composers. This still makes Horowitz a legendery piano player, though he isn't a composer, i.e., he doesn't design music, he plays it.

Of course there are good and bad composers, just as there are good and bad designers.

It's the same with Grant. You can say he is an amazing tailor with fantastic technique, but he isn't a designer, the way Chanel, CD, Mary Quant, etc. are designers. It doesn't diminish his talents in any way, though.

Zazie, nice to see you back, although I think I disagree with you here

I don't think I've seen you say that any other designers weren't actually designers ... so the ones you mention are known for changing the landscape ... what exactly does one have to do to be classed as a designer in your classification?

To me, it's Zara and the like who attempt to "play the works of the masters" as copyists, the tailors who can & will reproduce anything (and sometimes do it absolutely excellently) who are the pianists ... that seems like the proper analogy to me.

Now there are good composers, bad composers ... traditional composers, avant garde composers ... all composers nonetheless. You don't have to be talented even to be a composer ... you simply have to engage in the act of writing music. Even if people cover their ears & scream, you are still a composer

 

[Zazie]

Ok, maybe a comparison with Burberry might illustrate what I'm saying better. Bailey didn't just make a beautifully fitted, flattering trench, Burberry's iconic classic, he really remade it into every incarnation imaginable, into light-as-air dresses, blouses, capes, etc., though perhaps he isn't as expert at tailoring. That to me is an effort at designing. Designing, to me at least, is an act of creation.

Whether Bailey makes it to the league of the fashion greats is of course yet to be seen.

I read on style.com that Grant started out as a highly respected dressmaker, and I can appreciate that in the level and standard of his cut and tailoring, choice of material, etc. It shouldn't be miscontrued as diminishing his talent.

Did you see the film 2047 by Wong Kar-Wai? The tailoring of the Chinese dress worn by the lead actress is AMAZING. She is so-so pretty, but the cheongsums she wore made her drop dead gorgeous. I was watching a short about the making of those dresses, and there was a lot of knowledge involved, eg. the cheongsum is judged by looking from the side at how it is tailored to define the curve of the wearer's back, how the mandarin collar elongates the neck, all tiny details no one ever thinks of. The design remains the same, the cheongsum, but the tailoring takes it to another level. Grant strikes me as the same sort of master of tailoring.

The act of composition means you do have to create something new (of course there are a lot of bad composers who sound derivative), not simply playing the existing scores very well. Those to me are two different sets of skills and talents. Bach probably couldn't play as well and as colourful as Glenn Gould, but he was a great composer, and Gould was a great pianist.

 

[mikeijames]

i guess with gaultier turning hermes into something more trendy, paris needs another house that's focused on created perfection in a subdued and non-flashy way.