Paris Couture Catch-Up

By TESS GOLDEN

The Chanel couture show at the Grand Palais in Paris. (Getty Images)

The ancient ritual of Paris’s couture shows began yesterday. (Note to the uninitiated: it’s much more haute not to use the h-word in connection with couture.) And while the one-of-a-kind superfrocks on the runway will never find their way into a boutique, die-hard fashion followers won’t want to miss a single bow. To keep you apprised, we’ve pulled together a digest of what’s being reported on the fashion wires. Here goes.

Chanel (above)

Organ-inspired tubes “dangled from a dress like gothic car-wash strips.” (International Herald Tribune)
“The kind of canny mix that has made the ponytailed Lagerfeld designer a pop culture icon.” (Associated Press)
“With clothes like these, who needs accoutrements?” (Fashion Week Daily)

Christian Lacroix. (Reuters/EPA)

Christian Lacroix

“Only a dull mind could ask for any literal explanation.” (Style.com)
“Minimalists be warned! This is not for you.” (Telegraph)
“Fit for a latter-day Marie-Antoinette.” (Associated Press)
“Even the most jaded observer forgets that these are clothes. They just have too much heart to be, technically, inanimate.” (Fashion Week Daily)

Christian Dior. (Reuters/EPA)

Christian Dior

“Irrepressible touches of perversity.” (Style.com)
“If couture offers fairy-tale gowns, however, there was something here for both its good and deliciously wicked characters.” (The Independent)
“Underlying the attention-seeking transparency, however, was a meticulous attention to sculptural cut and architectural shape.” (Telegraph)

Armani Privé. (Getty/Reuters)

Armani Privé

“The Power Woman, he seemed to say, is still around, but her hard-won confidence allows her to work a softer, more glamorous, look.” (Women’s Wear Daily)
“Softening the androgyny of the pantsuit and bringing peace to fashion’s gender warfare.” (International Herald Tribune)
“He neatly consigned the dour look of corporate uniform to the past.” (Style.com)
“Everything the well-dressed and well-heeled wealthy woman of today could conceivably want in her wardrobe” (Telegraph)

Givenchy. (EPA)

Givenchy

“The designer took his collection into the high heartland of Peru, where he created a landscape of Machu Picchu colors like tobacco brown and stony beige.” (International Herald Tribune)
“‘Young, modern, and urban take on chic dressing, punctuated with incisive tailoring and a flair for intense shots of decoration.” (Style.com)

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Paris Couture: Smoke & Roses

By CATHY HORYN

One of the haute-couture pieces designed by Alessandra Facchinetti for Valentino.
Alessandra Facchinetti showed her first haute couture collection tonight for Valentino. It was held in the Place Vendôme showroom of Valentino, a little more intimate than most places here. She did a great job. This collection was so much more interesting than her ready-to-wear show, and, of course, you might expect something a little higher up for couture. But there was more expression and feeling—more work—in this collection. The first outfit was a little strange, in my opinion—a white silk jacket with an egg-shaped skirt. The proportions looked off to me, and the whole thing looked strained.

But things moved along. There are a lot of architectural clothes—stiffened edges curling, the back of a jacket pointing out, some modified egg shapes. These looks showed a range and a bit of willingness to try new things, and they were a good contrast to the softer dresses—by far my favorite things. She had one simple dress (#2) that was in pale taupe chiffon with some mohair ruffles, and another loose dress in smoky brown chiffon that was open and slightly ruffled around the neckline. Very pretty. Her embroidered suits were gutsy—very Valentino but fresh looking. I thought she completely captured the sense of Valentino but made it more youthful. I can imagine lots of women, young or old, being interested in the clothes. As I said, I’m not wild about some of the architectural effects—they were a little fashion-schoolish. But mixed in with the dresses and the smart suits, they’re fine.

On the whole, I found the season a little weak. I loved Chanel, mainly because I like Lagerfeld’s weird tangents. You just have to go with it and enjoy! The collection seems on the darker Germanic side, and I honestly don’t know how much the pipe-organ theme really mattered to him in the end. His mind seems to go everywhere…

Dior was a pleasure to watch. The colors were beautiful, the fabrics light, and of course I was glad to see a change of direction from Galliano. I kept thinking that most of the suits and dresses would look better, more interesting, if he reduced them down—cut them away, so to speak. Dior is romantic, and Galliano has shown us things before he thought were contemporary. The Matrix collection, for sure. The hobo show. And the couture collection based on dance. What separates them from this show in terms of a contemporary point of view? And how do you make romance look contemporary? I hope he stays on this track, but leaves behind more of the retro Dior bits. I don’t think he needs them.


Givenchy was disappointing. It didn’t seem couture to me: too many things like motorcycle jackets and denim pieces that had been tweaked to seem more “designed” than they actually were. I mean, after Raf Simons’ men’s show last week you have look at his standard of introducing new shapes and then ask if Tisci is really showing us something different. The stuff is on the surface.

The Gaultier show was funny and strange, a kind of toast (I think) to science fiction and lasers. I don’t know. It was all over the place. Some great classic pieces, and some of the tubular evening dresses were OTT.

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