Who adores Dior? - article Sunday Times Online

[PrinceOfCats]

Is Julie Burchill a wh*re?

A wh*re for faux working-class BS.

 

[helena]

no ms burchill is a journalist.

back on topic now please

 

[Scott]

I loved how at the beginning they described it all as "disposable fashion". I think that's perhaps closest to the aesthetic of Dior than anything.

As for Russian prostitutes....they could have used "skanky rapper's puppets" instead. Would have been more valid,I think.

 

[Mr-Dale]

I was constantly nodding during the reading of this article. You all know I am a Galliano craze and would do everything to defense him. But, a few months ago, I was in Prague. And Prague has it's own Dior boutique. With a pounding heart, I entered, greeted the bodyguard with lots of attitide and first I saw the SS 05 RTW show on big screen, which was fab. But then I too, saw the pornpumps, the plastic wh*re mules and the J'Adore Dior tees. When I walked further back, there was some absolute brilliant stuff from the first section of the SS 05 RTW show, but that's not the image that stuck with me and above all, just one 8th or even perhaps one 10th of the whole shop. This article just kind of hit the nail on it's head, about the trashyness that Dior sometimes portrays. But, of course, I am still a sucker for his couture and RTW-shows and still love that. FW 0506 was everything but tacky and trashy on the runway, so I hope that's the image we'll see in stores next fall. Oh how I hope so...

 

[j´adore dior]

i had my Dior boutique experience last year on europe, and i had to say that i do saw some glittering j´adore t shirts and jeans, wich i really didn´t hated that much, but largely there was marlene´s collection on, the boutique was filled with those glamourous bias cut dresses, fur jackets and strecht sattin suits, i was happily surprised because i thought most of that clothing wasn´t even produced, but there it was, on Paris and Milan at least.

 

[breathe0xygen]

As for Russian prostitutes....they could have used "skanky rapper's puppets" instead. Would have been more valid,I think.

I agree...
Interesting article, Thanks Helena

 

[Spike413]

I'm with Mr. Dale on this one. I love Galliano, I think he's a true genius, and a brilliant designer. I love what he does at Dior, both couture and ready to wear (depending on the season). But, as everyone else has said, what's on the runway and what's in boutiques is quite different. My first time in a Dior boutique wasn't as traumatic as other's have been. Thank god for the rack of bias-cut beauties to wipe away the memories of that horrendous Ragga print they did. It's sad really, when you walk into any other designer boutique and see racks upon racks of pieces right off the runway, and then go into Dior and there's barely anything decently made, let alone interesting.

And I third Scotts comment, have we seen MTV lately??? Russians don't hold a monopoly on trash that's for damn sure.

 

[Ghost]

i think they always hide the fabulous pieces in somewhere and only show them to well kown customers.

 

[j´adore dior]

i think they always hide the fabulous pieces in somewhere and only show them to well kown customers.

yea..., once a fashion spoter told me they had a vip room...

 

[AudiEC]

I loved how at the beginning they described it all as "disposable fashion". I think that's perhaps closest to the aesthetic of Dior than anything.

As for Russian prostitutes....they could have used "skanky rapper's puppets" instead. Would have been more valid,I think.

No, in this case Russian prostitutes befits the strippery Girly Dior collection...but if we were talking about Rasta Dior, then "skanky rapper's puppets" would apply very well.

 

[sweetpop]

Thanks helena for this read, it's a real eye opener!

There is a chasm between the glamour, creativity and spectacle of catwalk Dior, and the utter trashiness of much of the Dior that makes it into the shops.

That got me thinking.. Shiver me timbers, really?! I wouldn't know because we don't have a Dior boutique in Melbourne, and the people would probably give my a snooty once over because I'm a kid if I stepped in) the only clothes I've seen from Dior is everything from the various shows, and I pretty much like most of the designs ( I second spike413 on the comment; depending on which season) that come out onto the catwalk, a main reason is because I think there's something very unique about each one, especially the Couture!

and my basket overfloweth: fringed suede hot pants, brown jeans in logo-ed fabric, a fuchsia frilly top, appliquéd and sequined denim, even midriff-baring tops (even New Look has dumped the crop top — midriff-baring is desperately fashion old hat). The nipped-in jackets in the palest denim with white lace look great in the ads, but would take some wearing to look anything other than Moscow moneyed in the real world. The pièces de résistance, though, are white-and-pink logoed silk-jersey sports separates. Teamed in a certain way, they look remarkably like shell suits.

. Some very scary images filled my head upon reading those descriptions.
The cost of various items that are paraded on the catwalk would probably make me faint upon inspection (Vogue and Harpers do it very successfully for me already), but filling up a shop with the various items from the above is a big no no for me (it's not like they'd be cheap either!) I'd rather the eye popping price tags that accompany tasteful items of clothing; clothing that truly represents the couture house they claim to come from, rather than the seemingly tacky get-ups that seem to be there for the sake of filling up the empty space in the shop.

All that being said, I think I am inclined to reserve all comment because I've never stepped into a Dior Boutique myself, and being a primay source is never really the same as being a secondary source. *shrug*

 

[Spike413]

Interesting that this thread popped back up. Reading through and being reminded of how the Dior Boutiques used to be I have to say that, when I was in Dior on 57th st. in NYC back in November, I was very impressed with how many runway pieces were there from the fall 07 collection, completely unedited from the runway. All of the embroidered peplum jackets, tiered flare skirts, the huge fuschia tiered ballgown Cameron Diaz wore to the Met, a lot of the coats and the ever present bias cut classics. As disappointed as I was by the collection on the runway, it was a very welcome change to see so much of it out on the racks.

I didn't notice any logo-ed clothes whatsoever, so that's a step in the right direction.

 

[Mr-Dale]

Very cool to see this topic again. Especially because so much has changed for the Dior shops and Dior in general. I was in Paris last August and I went to the Avenue Montaigne boutique (the big one) and I was in shock to see that every piece of clothing that was hanging on the racks actually came from the FW 0708 runway. Plus some more looks that weren't on the runway, but definetly were from the same collection. I didn't see any logos, except on some dark bags where the logos didn't seem tacky, but classy (I almost bought one, but was 70 euros short ) It really was so different than what I saw almost two and a half years ago. So, yay!

 

[2Nova]

Quite ammusing and I can think of a few trashy prostitute-esque lable whores from my hometown that would DIE to wear those pink and white Dior mules

so it made me laugh

 

[MTRLBY]

lol reminds me of this stuff:

i saved these on my computer a few years ago when i thought they were cute ( i still sorta do )
its unreal how much the dior brand has changed in the past three years..but i must admit i was a big fan pre-S/S 2005 RTW..now..not so much.

 

[prettypouf]

For the very spirit of vexation, what honestly draws people into argument on this? I have read at least 40 articles or opinions on Christian Dior clothing and what people think-- they are entitled to their opinion, and I am therefore entitled to mine. I'm not going to tell all that I think I'm right or I think any other party is right, I merely think that it's simply not worth printing an article about. If anyone is honestly considering wearing some of the things made by John Galilano, they may be crazy, or they may enjoy the costume of the show. I honestly love the theatrics of a show by John Galliano, I haven't found many other mainstream designers that have such a way of taking a runway show and a relatively simplistic idea and turning it into something beautiful and dramatic as he does. Spare any other opinion, his runway shows are usually about a theatrical fashion show, and it's very rare that you find the models walking strictly pale-faced or without any emotion down the catwalk because it's a show of emotion and a sense of choreography.
I've found many of John Galliano's recent shows, beautiful, while the older shows are not as appealing. I'm sure they may or may not have been so fabulous for that time period, but it's besides the point. John Galliano's haute couture line, is either for the dramatically wealthy who can afford pieces of such high fashion-- or it's runway shows and videos (for the collectors like me) are for the theater and the beauty. I don't think wearability can be factored into it, because if you're going to say that a lot of his clothes aren't wearable, join the club-- you're merely exercising your very power of observation-- which keen or not, is pretty ubiquitous in our population.

 

[ilaughead]

^I think we've reached a consensus that John's runway shows are amazing, but the article was talking about what was shown in stores, that is, only the most wearable/commercial/vulgar pieces.

That said, CD RTW has really improved. It's not the trash it once was, but now that the clothes sold in stores are more refined, the RTW runways got really boring. FW07 and SS08 are way too prim and proper. I'm seeing very little Galliano in them.

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^Very true. I've said it before and I've said it again...I just don't get why you have to suppress Galliano creatively in order to stop selling t-shirts in the boutiques! That's the logic of a deranged person, right there! I can swallow FW 07, in fact many pieces from that collection are very beautiful, but I just can't take SS 08! It's heartbreaking, really! I just wish they could come up with a better system of allowing Galliano to be entirely creative and still keep the quality of merchandise in the boutiques high.

I guess what bothers me most about this new Dior is how boring the SHOW itself is. If Galliano is going to have to do this more refined Dior, at least make the shows like his older Dior shows (like the shows of the 90's). For the most part they was wearble, they only appeared theatrical/ referential because of styling, hair, make up, accessories, the runway show and the music! And the shows looked like so much fun! But I don't think the answer is turning Dior into a bore fest...if anything, it's alienating its most dedicated fans, like me....(obviously, I don't think Dior really cares about me,though...I don't spend money at Dior (I couldn't possibly afford it!))

 

[Spike413]

I remember back circa 2000-2002 his shows were wild, but the clothes were completely wearable, which is what gets me.

Granted, he's grown up and the image of fashion as a whole has shifted from the aggressively punk vibe that he did so well. But back then I think there was much more of a balance. He had his wild statements drawn from all sorts of street culture, ripped up bias cut chiffon fused with cargo pants, demented prom dresses with zipper constructions, upside down jackets, but the individual pieces were easy to wear on their own. I hope he finds this balance again because he seems frustrated where he is right now.

It's terrible how boring and average the spring collection is, it doesn't even have the color or technique of the f/w 07 collection so I can't imagine how they'll manage to make those simple slip dresses and suits look amazing on a rack, they barely registered while on living people.