Not directly related to Ayo Edebiri, who looks shy and endearing, or to Mathieu Blazy, whose degree of involvement in this is to me still ambiguous, but the decadence of French Couture as an art is unfortunately very evident these days.
Jerry Hall looks imperial in that gown from 1986, but I thought: maybe it is just the angle of the picture.
No. I was looking at more pictures and in all of them you can appreciate that the froncé of the bustier has a sense and a purpose, that it even creates smoothly a volume on the side, with the help of the fabric, and thanks to all of that you have a strong silhouette, different textures, precious details.
This red gown from Venice looks flat, frumpy, amateurish and uninteresting.
Ditto for Jonathan's dress from yesterday: unflattering, clumsy, hurried, unfinished.
Dior and Chanel used to be the nec plus ultra doing this and now they seem student projects.
The problem, I imagine, is only partially related to the artistic directors.
Raf was also this type of artsy intellectual designer and look at the Sterling Ruby dresses from his first Dior show. You could find them uneasy on the eye (or plain ugly) but their construction was spectacular.
So to me the problem affects the ateliers themselves, with traditions and savoir-faire slowly getting lost.
The fact that Dior is outsourcing from India the embroideries for Haute-Couture level pieces is very eloquent of the lack of craftmanship in France.
No, there is the craftmanship in France, Dior outsourcing in India is just a way of "elevating" cost-cutting, Chanel has a whole building with 10 of different ateliers, what we see here is lack of direction and couture or even sewing knowledge from the CDs, I bet some of them don't even know how and where their prototypes are made and by whom.
Also the facts that ateliers craftspeople cannot say "no" to a CD even if they knew full well that such or such fabric will not work for a specific construction. They can merely pinpoint small technicalities, it's the job of premières d'atelier to eventually suggest different constructions, fabrics or technics but CDs always have the last word.
Basically the only ones who can really perfect CDs ideas or sketches are Head of Couture, that's the reason why Balenciaga had to hire Copping to head their couture and perfect Demna's designs, and even if I don't like most of them, Balenciaga couture looks were impeccably thought-through and finished.
That's also the reason why I suggested Copping to join Dior or Chanel, instead of mid-Lanvin.
So imho there is no lack in craftmanship (see Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, Armani, the Lebanese coutures), there are lacks of sewing knowledge from JWA, MB, Lallo, Vacarello, they need to rely on and trust better heads of couture, even the craftspeople.
I also suspect those looks (the Dior on Alba and the Chanel on Abo, not the Tilda one) were last-minute rushed, 3, 4 weeks in the making maximum (they did not even steam them), instead of the usual 6-8-12 weeks minimum...
It's not a craftmanship issue, it's the management of this craftmanship. Dior and Chanel execs and PRs want so some sort of fast-couture, which proves they know nothing about couture, and that is a deadly sin for me.
Vuitton's customs looks for Emma Stones on the contrary seem "finished" and thought, the question if we like them or not is not a matter of couture but just a matter of taste.
