I must admit that I'm a little bit bored by the way the fashion media keep on repeating themselves. A very basic example: every time the Haute Couture catwalks are on, fashion critics wonder whether, with the global economic situation we’re living in, it's right or wrong showcasing collections featuring dresses and accessories that only a tiny fraction of the global population can buy.
I agree, Haute Couture can be redundant and excessive, yet I never conceived it as something exclusively for rich and privileged people. Haute Couture is indeed a form of art and even if most of us can't buy it, we can still look at it, admire the craftsmanship that went in it and get inspired.
The biggest mistake the fashion media often commit is seeing Haute Couture as something produced by one single mind, the designer’s, whereas this form of art is created by hundreds of highly skilled artisans who put hours and hours of work into each creation. Great fashion designs should be treated like works of art, why would the Department of Culture, Media and Sport of the British government be otherwise trying to prevent the oversea sale of 11 dresses by couturier Madeleine Vionnet?
The “Haute Couture equals art” equation was the basic principle behind Christian Dior’s catwalk. Galliano cleverly mixed Dior's New Look with the art of the Flemish Masters and with historical hints. A few yellow-gold designs evoked the colour of the dress in Vermeer's “The Lacemaker” or “The Milkmaid”, while the blue of the headdress in the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” was used as the main palette for other creations and 
Van Dyck's collars and sleeves inspired Galliano elaborate necklines and sleeves. As the collection progressed, the designer moved on, revealing a broader range of influences.
The white gowns with beautiful embroidered, beaded or painted blue flowers echoed the colours of the famous Delft pottery made in the Netherlands between the 16th and 18th century while Dior's hourglass silhouette was cleverly altered using historical references.
Galliano reintroduced crinolines that helped skirts standing away from the body, giving the designer the chance to experiment with yards and yards of fabric. The surplus fabric was then used to create wave-like motifs or gathered into pleats that formed elegant decorations on the front, back and at hems.
Galliano’s extraordinarily spectacular vision of Haute Couture, contrasted with the vision of another designer, the youngest on schedule, Alexis Mabille. Mabille’s catwalk was a bit too varied since it featured around fifty looks, both mens and womenswear, ready-to-wear and haute couture designs.
While Mabille proved he can effortlessly design timeless long, light and fluid gowns or minimal yet elegant little black dresses with cute white lace collars à la Wednesday Addams, the young designer also showed he has got a genuine talent for haute couture.
His best pieces were indeed the most painstakingly elaborate ones, especially his coats or men’s vests with thousands of appliquéd silk flowers or perfectly cut coats lined with mink.
Mabille has the right intuitions also when it comes to menswear (check out the multiple bow tie shirt in bright red) and if he could get out of the mental restrictions and limits he seems to have imposed on himself, he could become one of the best young designers around.
Armani Privé’s collection pleasantly struck me: this wasn’t certainly the first time Armani drew from his beloved Asia, but he did so this time in an interesting way, focusing on the past, on glamour and on a younger audience.
I’m not sure if Armani read the 1934 guide book All about Shanghai, but I kept on thinking about the description of the city contained in that volume while I looked at Armani's designs: “…city of amazing paradoxes and fantastic contrasts; contradiction of manners and morals; a vast brilliantly-hued…panoramic mural of the best and the worst of Orient and Occident. Shanghai with its modern skyscrapers…modern department stores…modern motors…is the Big Parade of life.”
Rather than opting for qipao-inspired creations, Armani designed modern outfits with little contrasting details: his trouser or skirt suits seemed to have an erotically exotic power, thanks to the pagoda like details incorporated in the shoulders, cuffs and hems; the oversized tassels used to fasten the jackets gave them a slightly surreal touch and the lacquer reds and blacks of Chinese pieces of furniture infused the bright coloured suits or deep black evening gowns.
Lace tops and dresses evoked Art Deco atmospheres and brought to my mind visions of glamorous femme fatales and dominatrixes à la Angela in Madam Satan or Fah Lo See in The Mask of Fu Manchu.
Yesterday Galliano, Mabille and Armani provided us with three very different but equally engaging visions of Haute Couture, managing to remind us that fashion is a undeniably an art form in its own right.
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