Saturday, October 1, 2011

Paris Fashion Week Coverage

Dior Spring 2012

When Christian Dior created the New Look in 1947, he revolutionized the concept of dress. New Look emphasized the waist, created an hourglass silhouette, and used more fabric than usually permissible. The extravagant, fiercely feminine Look sparked global commotion and forever changed the way women wore clothes. When John Galliano took over the design house in 1996, he remade it in his own image and eschewed the former aesthetic that had originally put Dior on the map. Galliano was extravagant, daring, and followed his own genius – and that genius took him to some admittedly strange places.

Bill Gaytten, who has the increasingly heavy burden of filling in for Galliano until they hire a permanent replacement, was skewered by the press for his debut collection. The backlash was severe, sparking a lot of “what was he thinking” speculation. It was written off as a “misjudged” collection, while others called it “tacky.” Gaytten’s second attempt (other than a cruise lookbook released between this show and his last) is scaled back, safe, and comfortably beautiful, but it’s currently being labeled by the masses as “boring.” It seems like Gaytten is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

What we’d like to point out is that ready-to-wear will always be more boring, or to put it in more palatable language, less complicated than Couture. Gaytten’s flamboyant Couture collection showed moon headpieces, giant hats in geometric shapes, gypsy caftans, wild neon makeup, and voluminous multi-layered dresses. But wait, isn’t this modus operandi found within the Galliano archives? Look at any Galliano Couture collection: Fall 2004 had him drenching his models in royal costumes and crown jewels; Spring 2006 was a metaphorically blood-soaked tribute to revolution. Every Couture Week saw the same spectacular parade at Christian Dior. Galliano was always over the top, especially where Couture was concerned. How was Gaytten’s take anything but a replica of Galliano hubris?

Of course he’s going to play it safe with his Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection, if not only for the simple fact that he’s working within an RTW budget instead of a Couture budget. What he showed eschewed the Galliano blueprint in favor of traditional Dior: Bar jackets, hourglass silhouettes, skirts and dresses with glorious movement, ruby red lips, slim belts, etc. It was wearable, pretty, and feminine. If it weren’t for the fact that it was Gaytten (who just can’t win) and not Galliano that did this collection, it would have been a critical success. Why the deck is stacked against Gaytten is a mystery, but he’s sure going to be relieved when they take the awkward, ill-fitting Galliano mantle from him and give it to another.

written by GRACE GORDON|photos: courtesy of GoRunway

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