Spring Haute Couture '10

Spring Couture week was pretty disappointing this time round. My usual favourites- Dior and Valentino pretty much sucked except for a few individual looks, and the rest of the shows were mediocre, except maybe Armani Privé and Chanel. And this isn't me being sad because school's back either I came back from school the other day hoping to find beautiful and exciting couture collections to comfort me, only to find the best had already passed. Anyway, enough moaning, ON WITH THE SHOW!

Alexis Mabille- Pretty whispy sleeves, a usual abundance of bows and clever colour blocking, though they aren't really my favourite pieces. Oh, not to mention the colour blocking looks look like something Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmations would wear. But I do love those fluff




Armani Prive- My brain pretty much exploded when I saw this collection. I'm usually not a huge fan of Armani but this collection was crazy. The whole collection was inspired by the moon, there were lots of subtle crescent curves, some not-so-subtle crescent moons randomly stuck here and there, and wonderful fabrics. Some of the fabric looked a little like bubble wrap, but bubble wrap is wonderful too.




Chanel- Another amazing unusual collection, Karl Lagerfeld has redeemed himself (in my eyes) in Haute Couture. Chanel was all about futuristic blown-up bits of metal and fabrics that looked like liquid mercury, combined with playful child-like details, fluffy cloudy chiffons and tulles, and a touch of Rococo.




The details: I love the silver fingerless gloves (they trump plain black fingerless gloves, and they're already pretty cool), and the stucco heels on the shoes as well, and LOOK AT THAT PLASTERING DETAIL ON THE COAT!! Oh, and that dress, top left, was made of a thousand little silk flowers or something.




Christian Dior- There was an equestrian theme with riding boots and whips and all, but John Galliano majorly disappointed me this time. It was the same old stuff, but a crapper version of the same old stuff. I think he's depending too much on the Dior New Look from the '50s, except the New Look was new about half a century ago. He even redid a terrible version of the Junon dress that I included just so you can see (second row, right). At least the hats and shoes were good.




Adorable riding boots, and dear lord look at that amazing swirly stiletto heel.


Elie Saab- the usual frothy sherbet colours and floaty frocks. No doubt, the celebrities will have a field day with this collection at the coming Oscars. Even though Elie Saab isn't that crazy or bizarre, his dresses are undoubtedly beautiful, and they are so flattering they could probably make a man look like a woman, so I'll give him that.




Givenchy- the entire collection was beautifully severe, yet soft. It was an overall bold collection, there were a few trashy-disco sequinned jumpsuits that I didn't quite like though other people seem to be raving over them, and that last finale dress is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. EURGH I don't even know how you can make chiffon look like that, DAMN THESE COUTURE HOUSES AND THEIR SECRETS.





Jean Paul Gaultier- Gaultier visited Mexico in this collection, and even though I might not know that much about Mexico, this collection seemed to scream it. There were huge boleros, crazy feathers, and a basket-weaving element in almost every single one of the looks. I loved how the weaving effect brought on a raw, primitive feel to the whole collection, and that dress with the weaved crinoline (bottom row, middle) is LOVERLY, especially the laced up part of the corset that was made to look like a spine.







Thimister- there were obvious references to Russian history and war, and it was the saddest collection in the history of any couture show I've seen. I WAS PRACTICALLY CRYING BY THE END, though maybe I was hormonal, BUT IT WAS SAD. It was sad how Thimister represented the uniformed fighters bleeding all over the place, and the aristocrats with their beautiful gowns seemingly shredded and blown apart, and in the end, everyone- fighters and aristocrats and all, came marching out in jumpsuit uniform-quasi-body bags.






Valentino- as individual looks, some of the pieces were marvellous. But as an entire collection, the whole thing was a huge tranny mess. Valentino is probably cursing the day he retired. The collection was everything but Valentino- there was some Rodarte and Balenciaga and bits and pieces of everything else. But Valentino? NOPE. I hope they fire the new designer-duo sometime soon, because I used to actually like Valentino, but by the looks of it, the house is only going down. However, I must say the shoes are delicious. Chiffon boots? Now that's something you don't see everyday. And, the blindfolds that were suspended in air were also hot.








OKAY, that's all y'all. This post took me three days to write, believe it or not. ELEVEN DAYS TIL NEW YORK FASHION WEEK, followed by the entire fashion month. I find it hard to imagine how these couture houses manage to produce 60-look collections over consecutive months (I mean, the Pre-Fall shows are still showing, then the Couture shows pop up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PRE-FALL SHOWS, and a month later, it's fashion week in Paris again). Actually, I sort of can imagine how they manage by. Anyone ever watch the doco-series 'Signe Chanel'? It follows Karl Lagerfeld and his seamstresses in the month leading up to couture week. If you're ever bored, I highly recommend watching the series, it just makes you appreciate couture week more, knowing how much handsewing and effort goes into every look.