It makes me wonder ... on a whole, why isn't fashion hitting like it used to ?
Maybe because we don’t have Couturiers anymore doing Couture.
Let’s be honest, since Karl’s death the only two I was looking forward to were Armani, Alexandre Vauthier and in some ways, Ralph Rucci and maybe Galliano.
Few people are willing to challenge the status quo, to think about shapes and techniques, to contextualize Couture in today’s world beyond the redcarpet and the desire to sell.
The people who thinks fashion, like Nicolas Ghesquiere are in RTW. Someone like Riccardo is missed!
When you look at Armani and Ralph Rucci, it’s so much more than a beautiful dress in a beautiful fabric. Every season, we see the quality of Armani’s satin and velvet. Clearly there’s a geek level of quality in fabrics development there.
When I want to have a dose of dream and fun, I watch a Chanel show by Karl. It’s fabulous!
The other day, I watched Galliano’s fall 1999 Couture show. More than 20 years have passed but it’s still mezmerising in terms of techniques but also in the way that he thought about Couture. Next to that collection you had Karl’s Fall 1999 Couture for Chanel. Those clothes weren’t for the redcarpet or a viral moment. It was a thought process about pushing fashion and the perception of Couture forward.
Gaultier did it, Lee did it, Riccardo did it.
Today is about hours of work. We don’t care about that. We hope those workers were paid accordingly but a boring dress or a stunt that feels flat won’t be superb because it took 700hrs to make.