Valentino Haute Couture, F/W 12.13

PARIS, July 4, 2012

By Tim Blanks

Look at Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, so ascetic and spare with their dark clothes and modest demeanor, and you can only wonder at the intensity of the clothes they create. So, obviously, did the scribe who penned their show notes, as lost in the search for words to define the collection as everyone else was after the fact. That's because Chiuri and Piccioli are like the solitary writer who spins a magic kingdom out of his imagination. "Regal beauty," Piccioli said by way of explanation. "Sensual but severe." And if that had a Game of Thrones tang, well, that fitted with a Couture collection that felt like a world we were allowed to enter without fully understanding what it was we were seeing.

The mood board in their studio was dense with nineteenth century altered states: the symbolists, the decadents, a romantic spirit that combined ecstatic release and exhausted lassitude. Valentino is a house that traditionally reads red, but Chiuri and Piccioli dialed down to blue, introspection and reflection versus the extrovert essence of house habit. It made for a quietly spectacular opening in crepes, chiffons, and cashmeres with a lush sobriety. That same idea of modest luxury carried over into a full-length lace and chiffon floral dress, and a coat that was encrusted with cashmere appliqués of flowers and leaves in a pattern that was inspired by William Morris' Tree of Life. It was so ludicrously vivid that you could imagine the old boy himself would have felt one step closer to God when he looked at it.

If there have been times in Chiuri and Piccioli's tenure at Valentino when they seemed a little stultified by respectful politeness, today felt like a once-and-for-all cutting loose. The way they introduced brocade, for instance, an oldish idea, but here zapped with yellow. Then there was the blue, of course, antithesis of all the house traditionally holds dear, even if the red did reinsert itself toward the end of the show (which only created a pleasurable tension for Spring). One of the most memorable outfits from this Couture moment in Paris will surely be the evening dress in navy plissé with the black shadow falling diagonally across it. Stark lushness—why does that notion sound so right with Couture in such transition?

Genderclash! Jean Paul Gaultier HC F/W 12.13

PARIS, July 4, 2012

By Tim Blanks

There's little doubt that posterity will recognize Jean Paul Gaultier as one of the all-time greats, but it will also have to recognize the profligacy of his genius, the carelessness with mere bagatelles like timekeeping (the 90-minute wait today bordered on those interminable delays that were a signature of the house 20 years ago), the way the extravagantly throwaway has always shared catwalk space with fiercely disciplined, beautifully crafted clothes. Haute couture has indulged both those impulses to an extreme for the designer, so the pendulum swing of consensus on his couture is unsurprisingly determined by which impulse dominates. Today, mercifully, it was discipline and craft.

That's probably what happens when you have a presiding spirit as wayward as Pete Doherty, the voice on the soundtrack, the star of Sylvie Verheyde's adaptation of nineteenth century poet Alfred de Musset's Confession of a Child of the Century, which was the spark of the collection. Once you'd ascertained (thank you, Wiki!) that de Musset's grand amour was the novelist George Sand, who scandalized mid-nineteenth century Paris by wearing men's clothes and smoking in public, Gaultier's collection slotted with the greatest of ease into his series of salutes to everything that has ever made Paris so justifiably full of itself. Erin O'Connor opened the show as Sand, in top hat, tailcoat, and gentleman's fob. She was followed by a set of Gaultier's peerless meditations on Le Smoking, including a silhouette that quoted Dior's Bar silhouette. It was never a secret that Gaultier would have been a logical candidate for the top job at Dior when Galliano got the gig. This season, when Dior is once again the big story with the Simons ascendancy, there was a certain poignancy in such reminders of that long-ago dream.

But Gaultier went on to prove how he owns his decadent, romantic, polymorphous fashion sensibility. Sand's tailcoat came back time and again, in crocodile, in camel, in the "male couture" that Gaultier inserted with a wincing lack of subtlety, and in the bridal finale, where the tails were splayed across a white skirt in front while the lapels were extended into swan's wings in back. The designer also paraded silken kimono-styled eveningwear that conveyed the fin de siècle feel of outfits named after characters from Proust, Huysmans, and Wilde. The colors—absinthe, coral, gold, papal purple—were the colors of opium dreams. Gaultier amplified the Beaux Arts mood by including a couple of articulated automatons. They could have been the robot from Metropolis. Or maybe they were sisters of the Georges Méliès creation that featured in Martin Scorsese's Hugo. Better that way—Gaultier's collections are always a love song to Paris.

Perfection: Givenchy Haute Couture, FW12.13

PARIS, July 3, 2012

By Nicole Phelps

Riccardo Tisci brought together dueling impulses in his Fall Couture collection: On the one hand, he returned to the simple lines of the sixties, when Hubert de Givenchy was at the center of the Paris scene. On the other, he riffed on the look of gypsies, specifically the gypsies you encounter in present-day southern Italy, where he's from. The haute and the street—it's the kind of mix this designer loves.

After seven years at the house, the Tisci codes are instantly recognizable, and copied nearly as quickly. Beaded fringes will be multiplying at the fast-fashion brands as quickly as machines can string them. Here at the mother ship, of course, the beads were painstakingly strung by hand, red and black ones in a pattern that together created a mosaic design to match the embroidery on the top of a floor-length cape. It was the collection's pièce de résistance, and under it, the model wore a jumpsuit made from jersey on top and beaded velvet on bottom, complete with attached open-toe, kitten-heel booties.

Beyond It factor, which he has in spades, technique is the thing at Tisci's Givenchy. The black nappa fringe on a dress boasting intricate leather embroidery extended all the way to the ground, and a halter-neck gown came with a built-in cape that was obsessively embroidered with sequins not on its outside but on its inside.

You felt like Tisci was fighting his own impulses with a pair of nude-colored dresses that featured sheared mink bodices and narrow, unadorned wool and cashmere skirts. And yet that was intriguing, too. It's more than likely that his signatures—a lavishly beaded and fringed cardigan that shaded from cappuccino at the neckline to deep espresso at its hem, for instance—will be the collection's hot tickets. But those restrained column gowns pointed in a new direction, one that's worth exploring further.

Disney Couture! Zuhair Murad HC F/W 12.13

Let's play a a game. Which celebrity do you think he was designing each dress for?

Elie Saab, Fall/Winter 2012/2013 Haute Couture

J'Adore... Giorgio Armani Prive Haute Couture FW 2012-13

PARIS, July 3, 2012

By Tim Blanks

Giorgio Armani's morning-to-midnight scenario gave him the perfect excuse to offer his clients an entire wardrobe in the most traditional sense of haute couture. If that didn't make for his most drama-laden show, that's scarcely the point when you are as absorbed by the exigencies of daily dressing as Mr. Armani is.

Nor was the kind of woman who would arise to don the pale blues and lilacs paired with black velvet pants that were part of the matinal Armani offering really the point. His point was this: easy jackets with a broad, slightly peaked shoulder, trousers with a generous volume, flat shoes. And Armani has made this point so convincingly throughout his career that its reiteration here could be called icing on a billion-dollar cake.

There were dresses, the best being a pair of lean cocktail numbers in lavender and mauve organza. Armani's tendency to pair models on the catwalk, coupled with the subtly exaggerated makeup, gave these looks a slightly android Blade Runner appeal that underscored the futurism that infuses Armani's work. So did his headgear. The little black berets by Philip Treacy and the beaded veils created a through line of uniformity.

Armani said it was mystery he was after with those veils, and to his credit, when Aymeline Valade eased down the catwalk in folds of midnight organza, her shoulders veiled in tulle, her features subtly concealed, it was mystery he got.

Floral Explosions! Giambattista Valli Fall/Winter 2012/13 Haute Couture

PARIS, July 2, 2012

By Tim Blanks

Giambattista Valli spun a bucolic backstory for his Couture collection: nymphs, fairies, silvery reflections in woodland ponds. And the Master's Margarita, witchy and wanton in her dealings with the devil. Ain't couture grand! Remarkably, these pagan sentiments almost managed to infiltrate the clothes. They certainly shaped the prints.

Valli was thinking that the couture dream is so far away from what constitutes "fashion" in most people's minds that he could follow his fantasy into some timeless realm, a place where the transience of beauty was arrested, kind of like the dreamy fairyland in Ridley Scott's Legend. It was a lovely idea, embodied by models whose veiled heads were studded with butterflies. But the clothes didn't match the concept.

That was partly a function of Valli's solid grounding in Roman alta moda. If the prints brought the moda, the silhouettes looked merely alta, ruffled to discomfort, extended into traditional volumes that looked… er… stuffy.

There were moments when the concept crossed over into glamorous conviction. A coat designed to look like the grass of a woodland glade had a shaggy splendor. A sequin underskirt shimmered like sunlight on water. The final outfit, an orgy of ruffles, had a tenebrous sensuality. Otherwise, Valli's party-girl froth went off the fizz with this collection.

Atelier Versace, Fall/Winter 2012-13

PARIS, July 1, 2012

By Nicole Phelps

"Donatella should've modeled." That was Christopher Kane, a Versace acolyte, following the Atelier Versace show at the Ritz tonight, a few moments after the platinum-blond designer took her bow in a black patent corseted dress with a waist so tiny it rivaled those of the teenage models. The point being, this haute couture show was as Versace as Versace gets: the pastel chain mail, the hip-high slits, the scarf prints, the Medusa emblems, the bared skin. If a few crystal beads fell as models strutted down the catwalk, that kind of thing's bound to happen at the dance clubs these dresses are destined for.

"It was very emotional. I had to get up my courage to come back," Versace said after the show. Not that you'd know it from this fearless display. First off, she'd booked the Ritz hotel, home to her brother Gianni's couture shows for eight years, and not just for a show in the pool room, but also for a dinner in its restaurant, L'Espadon, followed by a disco party. Then, she recruited a celeb-packed front row: Christina Hendricks, Fan Bingbing, Pierce Brosnan, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, and M.I.A. had the photographers lunging across the runway for their shot. And as for the dresses, Jessica Alba put it best: "sexy, strong, warrior." Or maybe Elizabeth Banks: "Donatella's not afraid to show off a woman's body."

Raf Simon's first Haute Couture Collection for Dior

I could hardly wait for Couture Fashion Week.  I was eagerly looking forward to seeing what Raf Simons would turn out. For years, the Christian Dior Haute Couture shows have brought the most drama and excitement; it's hard to top Galliano's show-stopping confections. Then, of course, there was the confusion of Gaytten's collections. What would Raf bring to the table?

The Fall 2012 HC collection really seems like a return to the Dior aesthetic. One dress in particular, a red mid length belted dress with large pockets on the hip, really seemed to harken back to Dior's New Look. The new Dior has completely exorcised Galliano from it's system. I'll miss him, but I accept this return to Dior's traditional spirit. Gone are the theatrical shapes of recent past; the focus now is on rounded hips, cinched waists and layered bodices that are meant to resemble petals. It's those bodices that I don't like. They made me think of crumb catchers, and their side profile was a bit too close to Madonna's cone-shaped bras. The videos below barely capture the details and texture of the fabrics. I believe this collection really needs to be seen up-close in order for its true beauty to be appreciated.

And The Winner Is... Elie Saab, Fall/Winter 2012-13, Paris

I always know that I'm going to like what I see on the Elie Saab runway. I imagine that I'm getting married and my bridesmaids get to pick whichever dress they like best. It's an old fantasy, but one that I'm not ready to give up. This collection surprised me though! Yes, there were gorgeous, red carpet-ready looks towards the end in Saab's traditional beading and lace. But the first half of the show featured things we haven't seen from him before. Knee-length, business formal dresses, pant-suits, coats... And each of them displaying how well Saab understands the female form. Always safe, each and every look was something I would want to wear. I had a hard time choosing which looks to post.

Let's acknowledge the hideous clip on bangs now, so we can appreciate the clothes. 

Kanye West Fall/Winter 2012-13, Paris

The clothes look good, but the models were tweeting about how uncomfortable they were - particularly the footwear. Kanye understands trends and silhouettes but likely doesn't have enough experience yet understanding how to construct clothes that fit the body inside them. Still, I'd probably wear any of these looks.

Alexander McQueen, Fall/Winter 2012-13, Paris

Here are the highlights from the show that got the bloggers all in a tizzy. The first six looks were barely distinguishable from each other, and then... Well... Have you ever watched those fancy dog shows? You know, the ones where dowdy women in bad suits make their pompadoured poodles run through hoops? Well, for some strange reason, those images flashed before my eyes while poring over these photos. Enjoy!

Valentino Fall/Winter 2012-13, Paris

Valentino's collection is pretty, romantic and repetitive - the same round neckline, long sleeves and ankle-length dresses in black, red and white, with the odd embroidered print or lace detailing for good measure. Here's a selection of looks.

Leather jumpsuit with the signature horizontal band detailing

Chanel, Fall/Winter 2012/13, Paris Highlights

I like the way the fabric of the coat looks like its been sprinkled in star dust.
I love the sweater with the chunky amethyst necklace.
I love the acid wash on the jeans, and the detailing of the cuffs.

We know I'm not a Chanel girl, despite how much I liked this past Couture Collection. A few looks caught my eye, though. 

Paris Fashion Week, Fall/Winter 2012-13 : My Wish List

Haider Ackermann