Christian Dior Haute Couture
Have tens of thousands of pounds/dollars/whatever to spend on haute couture but need some fashion guidelines? Or perhaps you have a more modest budget and want to incorporate the highest of high-fashion trends into your fall wardrobe? Either way, our handy couture-trend cheat sheet can help.
Jean Paul Gaultier's fall '09 couture show set out as a nod to Brigitte Bardot, and though we're not sure how that led to crocodile overalls worn with a fur coat, we love to see Magdalena Frackowiak done up old-Hollywood and, recession be damned, any excuse for feathers is good. Gaultier's pantsuits and corset work provided some of the strongest points, and we hope Sonia Rykiel and (?!) Mickey Rourke agreed from their front-row seats.
Kylie Minogue was another guest put in prime seating, and she showed up to scope out costumes for her next tour. When she plays America starting in October, can we expect to see her wearing a black veil as well as Karlie Kloss?
After a highly lauded resort show on the Venice Lido in May, Karl Lagerfeld had a lot to live up to when he staged his Chanel haute couture show in Paris this week. To do that, he sent models around giant No 5 perfume bottles, which were admittedly austere but memorable nonetheless.
And as for fashion, Lagerfeld tested a new style: flyaway panels behind skirts and suits. That, paired with lace tights and lace-up antique-style booties, should keep the Blair Waldorfs of the world looking modern and classic simultaneously. Another added touch? Tennis-ball shoulders, a la Balmain. Christophe Decarnin, your technique has truly blown up.
The benefit of a couture show is its worldwide marketing power, which helps sell things like sunglasses and handbags to aspirational and wealthy consumers. Those sales are the meat and potatoes of a fashion house. The money brought in from the actual couture collection is just the gravy — and maybe not even the gravy, but the truffle oil in the gravy — on top.
”The Cut explains the practical benefits of haute couture, in regards to Christian Lacroix's financial mismanagement
Ostrich feathers, crystals, sequins, chiffon ruffles: it was a tomboy collection for Elie Saab at the couture shows. Kidding. In one of the most charmingly frou-frou collections as of late, the Lebanese designer laid on the snow-queen effect in a strictly bone-china shade of white.
The femininity was far from simplistic. Think all-over basket weaving, florets top to toe and a more girlish take on the strong shoulders Balmain has tipped off to frenzy level.
For a wedding day or just a big day, would you wear what Saab has to offer?
Some people aren't surprising when they show in the front row at fashion week (Cate Blanchett, Lily Allen), but I still do a double take seeing Mickey Rourke there. So. Did 'The Wrestler' star look the part at today's John Paul Gaultier haute couture show in Paris?
Elie Saab, John Paul Gaultier
Do you prefer crisp and elegant glamour or Laga Gaga-style luxebot? Let us know which designer's style you prefer from Paris haute couture fashion week.
Givenchy's autumn/winter haute couture collection hit the Paris runways yesterday, with designer Riccardo Tisci taking his inspiration from North African robes and medieval queens. Fashionable enough for you?
As promised, we have pictures from the Christian Dior haute couture show to share. In the simple but chic confines of Christian Dior headquarters in Paris, models showed a range of wasp-waisted looks perfect for the brand's 'New Look' style from the '50s. Designer John Galliano took his inspiration from documentary photographs of Christian Dior dressing models for his shows decades ago, and visible stockings and basques were evidence of the half-dressed appeal.
On a wider level, the collection used a more sophisticated version of this season's bright trend to jazz up skirt suits, floret-covered A-line dresses, and higher-than-hip-level ruffle skirts. But our favourite looks? The dresses like this one, which should come with ladies in waiting in the purchase price.
"I can't think this is the end," Christian Lacroix told Associated Press Television News after his haute couture show in Paris today. "It's the beginning of something, I hope." With highly publicised receivorship proceedings in the works, the brand that's become the epitome of baroque couture has two main options: to find a new financial backer (the company will accept letters of intent from would-be buyers until the end of July) or to liquidate and leave a few employees at the house, which would be reduced to a licensing operation. Either way, a decision should be more clear by month's end.
And that means that if, sadly, it's option two, today's show was Lacroix's swan song. Only the 12 models were paid for their work (Christian Lacroix is so cash-strapped that no other expense could be afforded, and it could take 50 million euros to relaunch the brand), and even shoes were donated.
But about the clothes. They were as Paris-glamour as couture fans have come to expect, with dark and ruffled evening dresses competing with black trapeze coats and slinky-backed frocks paired with turbans competing for the most attention. The show closed with an especially Catholic wedding dress, for which the symbolism of a final prayer couldn't be ignored.
The show, attended by Carine Roitfeld and Anna Piaggi, closed with a 'Christian Lacroix Forever' banner across the runway and the couturier himself shedding a few tears. We know that Louise Wilson says writers shouldn't always be so complimentary, but we can't help but hope those tears will flow again after sartorial salvation.
