Clare Waight Keller, the latest in a string of designers to
helm this heritage brand, made it perfectly clear that this season the show would
be an homage or a paean to the eponymous designer/founder of the brand. With
that said, the following will be what I
know or at least what I saw:
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“Le Grand Hubert” was
a man of great elegance, refinement and chic, both personally and professionally.
He was unquestionably a paragon of good taste. What I saw in this presentation was
not so much as a dedication to Monsieur as it was seemingly more about Audrey
Hepburn, his beloved friend and muse. From the kitten heels to the opening look
which was a riff on the red dress from Funny
Face to the gamine look of the models, to the beatnik stage in Funny Face, the clothes looked more
about her than about him.
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Yes, there was elegance. Yes there was an extremely heavy
focus on evening clothes which as any fashion maven will tell you was not the
only category that M. Givenchy designed
or held as his strong suit. He was as prolific in his day and afternoon clothes
as he was in his eveningwear. His women wore clothes that showed the body in
the most raffiné of ways; never overtly sexy and if anything a tad matronly at
times. Today was a 90% evening wear collection with a great deal of repetition
and riffing on the same styles over and over and lots of asymmetrical cuts as
well looser shapes.
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Yes unquestionably, Ms. Waight Keller gave the couture
ateliers an incredible workout to achieve some immensely beautiful effects but
in the end that’s what they were … creations of the most incredible and
intricate of hand work.
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The clothes themselves seemed to be less defined in shape
albeit when she did show a more precise hand in the tailored pieces but still
the polish, the final touch seemed to be missing. When one thinks of M. Givenchy’s
oeuvre, one can surely recall far more memorable silhouettes and far more
signature pieces than were shown today.
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Let me not forget to say that the use of that so called heavy
artillery jewelry which was completely and totally antithetical to the designs
and the supposed MO of the collection. Apparently Ms. Waight Keller also
believes that men will need couture evening coats ... I am not sure why or when they need to
wear them but alas they were slick and again some of them quite exquisitely
rendered but the same shape over and over just reinterpreted by embellishments
and flourishes.
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Rather than blather on ... yes it was pretty, yes it made a
statement which remains unclear to me but it was missing was a precision, the soigné and draping and innovation that the eponymous
designer brought to the runway each season. Sadly what this equates to is sort
of like basing his entire career on 2 gowns from 2 movies which would be like
defining Bill Travilla’s entire career on Marilyn’s Seven Year Itch dress.
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PS ... as for raising the topic of the 2 dresses worn at the
most recent royal wedding ... why does no one point out that these dresses were
not perfection in any way, they did not fit
and in particular the wedding gown which was ill constructed and poorly fitted. As I was told by a colleague who
worked elbow to elbow with Monsieur … “there is no such thing as a waist seam” ...
tah dah! Think again and why bring those 2 very mediocre pieces into the
picture when reviewing this collection?
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