Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Fall-Winter 2009 – Paris Fashion Week

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Jul 282009
 
 

There was no misunderstanding the opening, at least: the MGM signature tune and Lara Stone strutting petulantly in a leather trenchcoat, beehive, and giant pout—it was Bardot to a T! Jean Paul Gaultier always lets us know where we are at the outset, and for Fall, we were off on a movie buff’s coach tour of the gracious wardrobes of Hollywood heroines. Ostensibly. In fact, it proved a bit of an elastic theme that at times meandered off-script. It ranged so widely—from a Louise Brooks flapper dress and gilded fur coat to an ultrashort gold T-shirt under a black leather vest that looked like a possible choice for Lindsay Lohan—that it was sometimes hard to see where the designer was going. (Geometric-Deco meets sci-fi was a particularly odd patch.) Still, theme fashion shows are a dusty old concept in the first place. All that matters in haute couture is a strong voice, incredible workmanship, and whether a balance between timelessness and timeliness has been struck. Gaultier did all that by working in his stock characters and garments: the matelot, the androgynous lady in the pantsuit, the trenches, the smokings, the corsets. No one in Paris can top his tuxedo coat with velvet revers, the just-so cut of a pantsuit with a double collar, or the funny showgirl things he did here as an excuse to spotlight the kind of corseting he’s been doing since before Madonna was a star. As for the timeliness, he threw in a nod to sporty-casual chic (a notion that’s raising its head with persistence this week) via overalls in both amethyst velvet and gold paillettes. Goodness knows where they came from, but they seemed kind of right.

 
 
       
       
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Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2009

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Jul 262009
 
 

Before rating Chanel’s Fall couture, let’s consider what Karl Lagerfeld has already done for the house in the last six months. There was the indelible, incredible high of his all-white couture show in January. Then, a matter of weeks ago, the staging of an unforgettably glamorous Resort collection on the beach at the Venice Lido. All this supremely heart-lifting fashion, delivered in a year that is technically the most depressing in living memory.

Back in Paris again, was it going to be humanly possible to top that for a third time? As it turned out, not quite. The Chanel couture for Fall, shown in the Grand Palais on a stage set with giant white N° 5 bottles, had a comparatively toned-down atmosphere. Lagerfeld’s single conceit was a play on graphic proportion—suits and dresses with a longer flyaway panel in the back, all shown with lace tights and stiletto-heeled booties. As the show progressed, he offered up some remarkable looks: a “smoking” redingote with a ruffle-necked blouse; a crinolined dance dress; pretty, light chiffon dresses in nude or midnight blue with ruffled trains. The outstanding look, though, was the one where the panel device was the least evident: a superchic spiral-cut dark blue dress with an asymmetric “tail” lined in red. All the Chanel craftsmanship was there, of course, and impeccably achieved. For all that, Lagerfeld didn’t manage to outstrip the genius of those previous two shows. That’s the annoying thing when you’re competing against yourself.

 
   
       
       
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Kings and Queens Collection by Victoire de Castellane for Dior Jewelry

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Jul 232009
 
 

Dior sure knows how to keep the elite on the pulse of fashion. Dior Joaillerie released their royal ‘Kings & Queens’ collection by Victoire de Castellane, which features bejeweled skulls meant to be owned as a pair. The stunning collection is made out of diamonds, opal, jade, quartz and obsidian, which along with the skulls symbolizes “eternity.” Jewels are forever, unlike those who wear them: “We are moving, but they remain,” said Victoire de Castellane. The Kings and Queen pieces even have evocative names: Queen of Jadélénie and King Opal to dazzle the jewelry-lovers.

Below : Pendant King of Osumilie, in platine, white gold, diamonds and sugilite.

Ring Queen of Jadélénie, in platine, diamonds and jadeite. 
 

Pendent King of Crocidolior, platine, white gold, diamonds and quartz “Tiger Eye”.

Ring Queen of Crocidoline, in platine, diamonds and red crocidolite.
 

Pendent King of Sugilie, in platine, white gold, diamonds and sugilite.

Ring Queen of Labradorie, in platine, diamonds and labradorite.
 

Pendant King of Crocidolite, in platine, white gold, diamonds and blue crocidolite.

Ring Queen of Calcedonia, in platine, white gold, diamonds and blue chalcedony.
 

Pendant King of Quartznoir, in platine, white gold, diamonds and black rutile quartz

Ring Queen of Jasper, in platine, diamonds and “blood” jasper
 

Pendant King of Charoïte, in platine, white gold, diamonds and charoite

Ring Queen of Sugilite, in platine, diamonds and sugilite
 

Pendant King of Opalie, in platine, white gold, diamonds, rose opal and cultured pearls

Ring Queen of Quartzie, platine, diamonds, rose quartz and pearls
 

Pendant King of Crocidolia, in platine, white gold, diamonds and green crocidolite

Ring Queen of Chrysophrasie, in platine, diamonds and chrysophase
 

Pendant King of Rutilie, in platine, white gold, diamonds and copper rutile quartz

Ring Queen of Quartzor, in platine, white gold, diamonds and white rutile quartz
 

Pendant King of Obsidan, in platine, white gold, diamonds and « rainbow » obsidian

Ring Queen of Grenatie, in platine, white gold, diamonds and garnet
 
 
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Donna Karan Collection – Fall 2009 Ready-to-Wear – Accessoires

 Fashion Accessories, Fashion Trends  2 Responses »
Jul 232009
 
 

If Donna Karan didn’t invent uniform dressing in the eighties, she went
a very long way toward making the idea a sexy one. Now, with the economy
in a nosedive, she’s brought the clever, potentially budget-saving concept
back for Fall, and the result is one of her strongest-looking collections
in seasons. It starts with a jacket or a draped jersey top—all exaggerated,
sculpted shoulders with a wrapped or belted waist. On the bottom, it’s
either a long, lean skirt or tapered trousers. That powerful, triangular
silhouette came down the runway in all sorts of arrangements, each ready
to be pulled apart and reconfigured with any number of different pieces.
A caramel calfskin trench jacket, a white poplin button-down shirt, or
a black silk parka might be paired with a stretchy, below-the-knee jersey
skirt, while a portrait-collar alpaca jacket or turtleneck bodysuit might
top cropped pants.

But it wasn’t all about separates. Dresses, whether they came long-sleeved
or in a drapey goddess style, followed the same commanding lines. Karan
only abandoned the bold shoulder to reproduce on the runway a look that
she herself has been wearing for years. Made from satin jersey suspended
from a necklace of leather-wrapped rings, the halter-style “cold
shoulder” dress—as she calls it—has been battle-tested
not only for sex appeal, but also for ease. Who wouldn’t want to slip
into a uniform like that?

 
       
       
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Marc Jacobs – Fall 2009 Ready-to-Wear – Accessoires

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Jul 232009
 
 

Leave it to Marc Jacobs to deliver a neon-hued, big-shouldered, crimpy-haired
eighties antidote to the gloom and doom of 2009. “I was thinking
about the good old days in New York,” he said after the show, “when
getting dressed up was such a joy.” By the good old days, Jacobs
means the nights he spent at clubs like Area, the Palladium, and Paradise
Garage. Maybe it was the recent Stephen Sprouse project he completed at
Louis Vuitton, or perhaps it’s the fact that he now lives in Paris full
time, but his Fall show was a big, juicy nostalgic kiss to a city that
doesn’t really exist anymore.

The show started simply enough, with a gray cardigan sweater and charcoal
trousers, but when the model walked past, you saw the back half of a kilt
and braces—Jacobs’ new uniform—and knew it was going to get
personal. He worked his way through little silver-and-black A-line shifts;
party dresses in metallic leathers and floral brocades with flaring, full
skirts and monster shoulders; velvet bustier tops and high-waisted over-dyed
jeans; and Crayola-bright jackets, capes, and hooded coats. The only filter
that separated these clothes from their East Village forebears was the
expensive, luxury fabrics they came in. Every girl had a different hairdo,
shellacked into Mohawks, flips, and bouffants, and the makeup was straight
off the album cover of Duran Duran’s Rio. The cumulative effect of all
that color, volume, and optimism? One editor called it “A Flock of
Seagulls meets Alexis Carrington.”

Will fashion as outrageously ebullient as this—in some cases, make
that just plain outrageous—sell in the harsh reality of the late
aughts? (And talking about harsh: More than 1,000 people were nixed from
the invitation list this season in a cost-cutting slash and burn.) Jacobs
insists that he wasn’t thinking about the economy when he was working
on the collection, and maybe he wasn’t. These days, wagering that women
will splash out on feel-good clothes is as good a bet as any.

 
       
       
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