The final day at the Paris’ Haute Couture catwalks reconfirmed there are some designers who still conceive high fashion as a fossilised institution lost in the folds of time that shouldn’t renovate itself but still offer the perfect ladylike outfit for its mature customers. Who am I talking about? Valentino.
The designer himself might have denied in a statement issued a couple of days ago that he had any contact with the new creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli (of Valentino’s accessory design team fame), but if he didn’t supervise the collection, then his ghost haunted it in a powerful way.
Though Chiuri and Piccioli tried to bring Haute Couture to the “masses” by, well, broadcasting the Valentino catwalk live in the Paris, Milan and Rome boutiques, the first collection since the dismissal of Alessandra Facchinetti was respectfully safe.
The Chiuri-Piccioli duo did their homework well, studied the archives like the master wanted and came up with a perfect Valentino collection that had one merit, the potential of exciting the designer’s mature fans. There was absolutely nothing to complain about it sartorially speaking: there were some beautiful creamy fan-pleated or crystal embroidered coats, 60s suits, embroidered evening dresses, deep green evening gowns with feathered fringes and dresses with minutely pleated folds that formed rows of roses.
One colour – Valentino red – prevailed, but there wasn’t anything too controversial, revolutionary or bursting with Chiuri-Piccioli’s personal imprint (despite a timid attempt with a few turquoise gowns that they promptly suppressed fearing the ire of the great master, maybe?) striding down the catwalk. I fear that Valentino, rather than turning into a legendary Roman emperor is becoming like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, and, in a last attempt at surviving in a fast industry in crisis in which even the next Jackie Kennedy is opting for younger and less known designer, he is trying to clone himself. Valentino’s "Palpatine syndrome" brings us back to the usual question: when a designer decides to retire or dies, should his/her fashion house stop producing or should it be somehow rejuvenated?
While the doubts remain and while Valentino’s fashion house keeps on refusing any attempt at a much needed rejuvenation, Jean-Paul Gaultier proved instead you can age and still offer Haute Couture designs to a clientele comprising a wide age group.
So, while Lagerfeld at Chanel dreamt of white sheets of paper, Gaultier had a vision of ink and pens reproducing on different fabrics beautiful calligraphic swirls.
The French designer perfectly balanced this theme with his skills and trademark designs: there were some pinstriped suits, high waisted toreador-style trousers and cropped jackets, hints at his legendary corsets turned for the occasion into perfectly structured cages studded with beads and crystals and jackets with sharp shoulders, but everything was characterised by precise calligraphic patterns.
In some cases the patterns were reproduced in print on the fabric, in others they formed the thinnest lace-like decorations, created architecturally abstract motifs and fringes, or turned into a fishnet fabric overimposed on a suit (a technique often used to restore old and frayed costumes).
Bathing suits were transformed into evening gowns and the traditional dresses of flamenco dancers were given an erotic twist as they could reveal the bras and knickers hiding underneath.
Jean-Paul Gaultier corsets and trousers with fishnet inserts or see-through wedding dresses might be for a younger audience, but letting 51 year old model turned designer Inès de la Fressange striding down the catwalk in his more sensible designs, showed that Gaultier is still able to offer striking alternatives to different age groups while still guaranteeing head-turning exclusivity to all those (young or less young) ladies who opt for his creations.
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i really like your blogs! especially the clothes of the model! the design is great! keep it up!
-sidney-
Posted by: gino green global | January 30, 2009 at 07:32 AM