Dior pre-fall 2018

Well folks here you have it … THE DUMBING DOWN OF DIOR 

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There is nothing really wrong with the clothes other than they carry the label DIOR.

Hum drum commonplace yawn worthy clothes that if you take away the tailoring you are left with the boring parts of Dana Buchman, Ellen Tracy and Anne Klein and not on their worst days. This Italian mama who is supposedly in charge has absolutely no inkling or clue as to what charisma and stature Dior has carried for decades. 

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Clothes for working girls and college girls was hardly the MO for the Maison and now we have the criminally inept delusional woman who thinks she will turn the tide from a revered house and brand and make it clothes for the “everyday woman”…I guess she forget that her price points are not that of Kohl’s and Macys so her master plan might be foiled or misguided. There are no signatures no allure no panache and without being derogatory these are housewife working girl clothes and not clothes for the cognoscenti of fashion.

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Dior was the jewel in the crown, aside from LV, within the LVMH empire and now it looks more like some flawed stone with no value at all ready except to be discarded. Yes the clothes look better than in the past but they look like just that ….generic clothes… how sad. Of course there is blah blah blah about archives and revival but the interpretation comes from someone wjo has NO reading or visual comprehension let alone interpretation.

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If one was to play a game of word association of sorts  …words and phrases like these come to mind…  project runway …. Banal. Gamine… hohum… who cares . what designer is this… School girl clothes… Supermarket wear … boring .. nice… pedestrian.. triste ... age inappropriate... 

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Valentino pre-fall 2018

What the hell just happened here? gone are the nuns, the monastic robes, the storytelling coats and dresses, the bland minimalism and the pre Raphaelite girls who haunted, pervaded and infected the runways of the house for far too long. Don’t get me wrong, I am not sure this is the cure but hell there are pieces here that actually look like Valentino... I’m not quite understanding how you segue from parochial to prostitute but I’m in!

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Party dresses, flirty dresses, chic or close to that dresses... no capes no funeral togs … what’s a girl to do... not only can one see Valentino Garavani but one might espy Ungaro and Valli mixed in … imagine that, it actually skews young instead of death rattle!

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It’s too bad the images are so arty instead of straightforward so that the clothes could be fully appreciated but one can live in hope and as for that logo crap… who cares

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Lastly why stoop to the level of guccifying the collection even in small part?

Chanel Metiers d’Art .... Hamburg 2018

Grüße aus Hamburg

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 Let the fawning begin and bring out the smelling salts and the depends. The accolades are streaming in and yet I can’t seem to see the supposed fabulousness of this presentation. Yes the purpose is to display the work produced by the Chanel-owned luxury artisan-specialist companies, Maison Michel (millinery), Barrie (Scottish cashmere), Goossens (jewelry), and Lesage (embroidery). Yes, mission accomplished, but the clothes certainly left a lot to be desired. This was commercial Karl just a more expensive version …. Well at least for the most part.

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The real star here was the tailoring which seemed uncharacteristically sharp/cleaner and offering a more defined silhouette to the suits, jackets and coats. Yes, this was Karl coming home to Hamburg and much has been made of the fact that Hamburg is a coastal /seafaring city hence the nautical influences. Even the fisherman (aran) sweaters took on a Chanel touch when paired with leggings, opaques and captain’s hats. I know, I know the cropped full legged sailor pant is an iffy situation at best but oh the jackets and the coats.

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The overall effect was sort of this Night Porter meets Coco meets Greenwich Village beatnik cool meets motorcycle mama meets "hey sailor.". The shoes were divine; the accessories bountiful, the bags ranged from the Chanel standard fare to the rather amusing accordion (concertina) but let’s go back to the hats which were part of every total look. As is always the case with any Chanel collection , there were the de rigeur Karl Klunkers and this collection was possibly more rife with them than usual. The dresses seemed oddly out of synch with the tone of the collection despite their over the top embellishments. They ranged from downright “you must be kidding me” to “well, if I must.” Don’t get me wrong there were a few looks that might even register as amazing.

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One of the things that struck me was there was an almost exact duplication of a suit from the 60s which was photographed on Romy Schneider and being fitted by Coco herself. Seemed odd since Karl has always massaged and manipulated the DNA but rarely if ever practically copied line for line let alone in  the same coloration. All in all, to me, this was really not much to write home about but then again it is still better than most of the flock’s best efforts. 

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