Dior pre-fall 2017

Holy crap on a cracker!! What can one say? Apparently all the noise about this woman going to Dior was all noise as she apparently brought along a lot of the Valentino esthetic and sensibility and none of the brilliant reputation fostered before her tenure at either brand. What comes to mind is WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

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Quite simply, the clothes are either unappealing or horribly retro (think Carnaby Street)   or worse yet boring (think Gloria Sachs) and lastly just plain ugly. The blatantly apparent references to Hedi are inexcusable as are the absurd silhouettes coupled with all the sheerness.  I don’t foresee a stampede to the Dior shops come July. And then of course none of this aided by the styling which apparently only bolsters the collection’s lack of appeal for a real Dior client ... if any still exist at this point. 

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click image to enlarge

The mind boggles and the fawners will fawn and handbags, makeup and shoes will outsell all of it   .. as Clara Peller once said… “Where’s the beef?” AND JUST AS AN FYI,   Maria has already drowned or gotten drunk on the Kool Aid of her own words!

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pre-fall 2017 DELPOZO & VALENTINO

Let’s say it is the yin and yang of fashion. On one hand you have the most amazing tsunami of color, construction and design and on the other hand you have a collection that spares no expense rendering some of the most unflattering clothes in the most unflattering colors as if to resemble peignoirs and oddly designed parochial school uniforms. One of the collections adheres strictly to its DNA and the other has strayed so far from its DNA as to be sadly unrecognizable, unappealing and bland to the point of being boring.

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Unquestionably Delpozo is for those who are more than just a clotheshorse as the clothes celebrate the art and craft of fashion.  Valentino, on the other hand, seems to be striving for simplicity albeit with extravagantly expensive, embellished, and unattractive clothes aimed at the label whores of fashion. 

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Staying on topic here, Delpozo offers constructed clothes that rival the great architectural designers of the last century while Valentino might offer the softer side and more wearable but at what price and I don’t mean dollars and cents.

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Clearly I have made my feelings and my preferences known here but despite my usual battle cry about wearability and salability there comes a time when one must draw the line and say screw it, these clothes are just too wondrously fabulous and hopefully there are a few women out there who will bravely and proudly wear them. As for the more boring and frankly ugly, in my opinion, the bases are covered.

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GUCCI pre-fall 2017

In this ever-growing and expansive cavalcade of clothes, one would hope to see a collection that wasn’t so reminiscent of times gone by as well as the designer actually knocking himself off. The problem is that this excuse for a collection, as shown, is a laughable perversion of fashion.  The term “theater of the absurd” comes to mind!

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

The Pre-Fall collection must be made up of 100s of pieces which are assembled to look as ridiculous and cartoonish  as possible yet begs to be dissected as buried within this morass there are some wearable if not even “likable” pieces but none of them are other than borrowed inspirations.  Michele took his swipes at Chanel, Tisci’s Givenchy, Schiaparelli, YSL, Hermes, Adidas and so many more to create a souk of hand me down looks piled on to make his statement which he believes is that more is better.. As in the more ridiculous the better. It’s sort of like a “I have a bridge to sell you “as in ... this is supposedly” a la mode” 

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

The sad part of it all is that the clothes singularly perpetrate the fraud of fashion where hype rules and actual fashion, creativity and style are absent; maybe he was prescient in seeing the age of “con” before that spray tanned thing we now refer to as president-elect.  Papa Gucci must have spun his way to the center of the earth by now as all the years he spent creating one of the industry’s first status symbols have been reduced to an array of clown costumes that appeal to the fashion victims who inhabit the world.

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

click image to enlarge.. if you dare

CHANEL pre-fall 2017.. Métiers d’Art

The connection between Coco and the Ritz is inescapable. It seemed somewhat  fitting that the Kaiser decided to show the clothes as if in a throwback to a time when ladies went to luncheons and the main attraction was  a walk through fashion show. Albeit nothing as glam as what was served up 3 times here but the concept remains the same.

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

Métiers d’Art collection is the chest pounding show for the brand which boasts its prowess when it comes to embellishments and fabrics and in this case its variety and heaps of accessories. This is not a collection that is seen as themed or focuses on a trend; it is about clothes, the most glorious of clothes, one might even say it is like a reality show ... Chanel Gone Wild!  Or maybe it is just CHANEL on steroids.

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

These eyes saw references to the glories of France with very Louis like breeches and the fabulously court like gillies but not to be out done by the Lucite cap toes. There was this hint of Versailles decadence throughout. Again, the accessories were literally piled on with great affect. Honestly the veils and the flowers were unnecessary superfluous add ons to what was an extraordinary display of the art and craft of fashion. I mean really … the knitted puffer, the encrusted bead work, the fringes, the feathers, the no nonsense color palette... Karl is way ahead of the flock and sadly one must think of the eventuality of it all given his age.

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

click image to enlarge .. DO IT!

At any rate, this is a collection with no age, no trend just and heavy on appeal.  It sings out to  the CHANEL lady who can afford to indulge herself in the most exquisite of fashion extravagance short of all out haute couture  and more importantly with clothes that possess great style, perfection of conception and timelessly fashionable.