SPRING COUTURE-- PART 3

FASHION BY THE RULES: FANTASYLAND 3

The last of the season bowed with more of a whimper than a wail this week in Paris. As much as I try to fully comprehend the Haute Couture, there are times that I am thoroughly confused by what designers present during the Holy Grail’s of this fashion week or 3 days as it may be.

I have always been a fan of JP Gaultier, bother couture and RTW, but I am a bit confused that he took this couture collection to the same theatrics as he does for regular collections. For my taste this show and the clothes are overly “themed”…….yet what he accomplished is that he displays the awe inspiring abilities of his atelier. From palm fronds to piano shawls and unbelievable feats of engineering, the collection certainly had the signature JPG humor but not the usual chic and guts of his couture collections.

VALENTINO, oh how I miss “the Chic”………………..the 2 who are now in charge of designing are in need of a reality fix. They need to figure out who their customer is and who they are searching for as a customer………………..but all that aside, There is no chic, no soigné, no raffine regardless of the design itself. The deft hand of the atelier is present but the design is weak and seems over worked and over reaching ………….trying too hard. There are traces of the DNA of Valentino but surely not much else…..even the shoes are sad.

ELIE SAAB. the dialed down collection is still chock a block with red carpet looks …………..just with less obvious adornment such as beading …………………I am not sure why he chose to totally eliminate a signature since the presentation became a bit repetitive.

Again I urge you to slowly go through the collections at www.style.com