Inspired by Stella McCartney's Spring Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear Womenswear
Have you seen the barren trees Colored a gentle green? By this woman named Nature Who exchanged her blackened slate For a painter's rich color palette?
She labors long under the gentle sun Whose warm rays caress her into tireless work For all who have felt a painter's pain Would know that her task is no mean!
To tinge the fiery red with orange Splash some yellow on a lemon Color the flowers to soothe the eyes And the earth with youth and joy
Oh how Nature churns her colors To deftly apply on her canvas Earth Once every year a unique painting she does Rich in colors and strong in beauty
"Spring" she calls it every time Oh! I wonder why?
Inspired by Christian Dior's Spring Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear Womenswear collection!
Dior girl on the run In a silver lamé trench coat to stun Sparkling diamonds in her bun Pursued by a gangster's gun
She hears a faint knock on her door Leaps off her bed to avoid terrible gore No time to dress and adore Slips into her underwear on the floor And deftly escapes before Things turn really sour!
Only baby dolls and negligees cover her modesty Onlookers gape wide at her audacity No time for outerwear she says in honesty Dior girl's frail femininity And robust vanity Never fails to impress in enormity!
Photo Credit:www.catwalking.com
Creator:John Galliano Event:Spring Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear Womenswear Date Held: Oct 2nd, 2009 Place:EspaceEphémèreTuileries - JardindesTuileries – Paris 1er
Designer(John Galliano) Speak:
“I discovered this wonderful image of Lauren Bacall, a loyal Dior client, and Humphrey Bogart on an Avenue Montaigne terrace, and I took it from there”
“She was a regular client of M. Dior and I loved the idea of taking that 1940s Hollywood glamour and making it more contemporary. And I liked the idea of the link between film as an illusion and the illusion of undressed dresses”
“I wanted very femme fatale, a strong woman with a lot of independence, a heart breaker” “semi-dressed allure”
Critics Say:
“Disrobing was Dior’s biggest story today.”(Vogue.com UK)
“It’s just that this season the look isn’t special enough.” (The New York Times)
“The message at Christian Dior this afternoon was very definitely taken straight from the underwear drawer.” (The Daily Telegraph)
“For all its delicacy, and prettiness, was there a single idea that took fashion — or Dior — forward?Everything seemed like a reworking of early Galliano collections under his own name, but now with all the finesse and studio support that he has from Dior.”(International Herald Tribune)
“Why limit yourself to a movie when you can access the living wardrobe?”(Financial Times)
Inspired by Barbara Bui's Spring Summer 2010 RTW Womenswear Collection
Bui girl, not yet a star Just a young girl having a lot of fun Attending rock shows, strumming her guitar Bohemian attitude and a wardrobe to match!
Rocks in skinny leather pants and studded jackets Slithers into metallic python pants with equal aplomb Throws in some feminity with lacy slips Patchwork mini dresses and tons of sequins
Arty Pop or plain Woodstock However you categorise her Its not easy to match Bui girl, who's yet a star...
Photo Credit:www.elleuk.com
Creator: Barbara Bui
Event:Spring Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear Womenswear Date Held:Oct 5th, 2009 Place:Musée de l'Homme - 17 place du Trocadéro - Paris 16e Press Notes: Free-spirited and luminescent, she refuses the gloom. Her rock chick nonchalance is dressed in brightly coloured clothing. Exuberant and happy-go-lucky, she can’t stay still and claims her zest for life. Flower Rock and Arty Pop embroidery invades her androgynous chic wardrobe. Party-perfect trousers and jackets shake it up for a look that is part self-conscious sophisticate, part laid-back rebel. Anything goes - as Victorian lace, Kerouac-style worn brown leather and chain mail is mixed with floral prints, simple white cotton fabrics, snakeskin and high octane punk leather. Somewhere between Woodstock and the Palace, her wardrobe is a patchwork remix of pop culture and party girl. She dares to mimic the humour of Ziggy Stardust, evokes the sensuality of Veruhska and harnesses the lightness of touch of Vanessa Paradis. Her obsessions? Chain bracelets and necklaces. Her style? Disco stilettos, punk boots and sexy rock sandals. Her nonchalent accessories? Woodstock-style bags with lashings of luxe. The bullets in her armour? Precious mini bags that shine like jewels.
Inspired by John Galliano's Spring Summer 2010 RTW WomensWear where an old actress revelling in the glory of her heydays tries to make a comeback oblivious of the reality that she has long lost her youthful looks!
John Galliano- Spring Summer 2010 RTW- Oct 7th 2009- Paris- inspired by movie Sunset Boulevard- an actress of the silent movie era attempts a comeback- assembles a red carpet wardrobe from her existing wardrobe of lingerie, night gowns, brooches and pearls- 1920s Hollywood glamour- fresh colors, ice blue, silver lame, powder pink, lemon yellow-sheer fabrics of chiffon, tulle and lace- trench coats either encrusted with brooches with price tags till attached or decorated with flowers made from film gel, bias cut semi transparent gowns layered with bright polka dot gowns- spray painted hair- "Galliano Gazette" newspaper print hats and drawstring purses- giant pearl bracelets- high heeled shoes with pearl stacked heels- for the young and wild- cute romantic dresses reflecting Spring- familiar territory for John Galliano- collection focused on a strong bottom line!
Think YohjiYamamoto and images of gloomy girls buried under heaps of black cloth with not a hint of the powerful sexuality that might lie hidden underneath, float across the mind's eye.This time around when the silhouettes mirrored the recession and transformed from voluminous black skirts to tight mini skirts and skinny pants, everyone familiar with Yamamoto's work raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. A few days later when Yamamoto filed for bankruptcy protection with debts accrued to $67 million, the pieces all fitted together. Concept has been swapped for commercialism, where bottom line seemed to be the strong focus and that it could be strengthened without slaughtering creativity, is after all the genius of Yamamoto.
Yamamoto understood that no one has the pleasant mood or the gentle patience to indulge in "conceptual" fantasy.Rather he focused on the mood at hand, making angst filled women, thinned down by financial worries and dressed in fitted black skirts and shirts with mutton of leg sleeves and collars stylishly popped out, take on the task of being their families' breadwinner, their inner turmoil and state of unrest manifested through bedraggled hair and blazing eyes made prominent through brightly colored feathers stuck on the eyebrows of eyes painted to match the color of the feathers! The no nonsense tough attitude was prolonged through taut black boned corset jackets and double breasted tuxedo jackets with their collars and lapels pushed down to bare shoulders and worn with miniskirts, all coyness vapourising into an overpowering femininity!
As the show progressed the girls got bolder and rougher donning black leather, puffed-sleeve moto-cross jackets and fitted shirts worn with either asymmetrical miniskirts with kilt pleats on one side or over studded garter peeking out of miniskirts!
With jobs so scarce and the mood intensely workaholic with everyone consumed by a ravaging need to hold on to their only source of income, the focus was on work wear, the lean frame of the damsels held in respect through skinny pants and shorts worn with the usual fare of Yamamoto's floor grazing shirt dresses or the more conventional T-shirt over jackets, even the t-shirts oozing out their despair through little black appliquéd flowers decorating them!
Toughness and practicality give way to another hero of the hour, namely frugality! The worked-to-the-bone woman has barely enough time to crash into bed after making a messy something in the kitchen with not even sufficient time to clean up the leftovers! What was once a spic and span apartment had metamorphosed into a hell where rodents, moths and the like roam around as if they owned the place! The tough life bearing down on her apartment eventually starts showing up in her wardrobe that comprises of skinny pants that hide bony legs and long black lounge robes, all riddled with holes resulting from persistent gnawing at by rodents, barely held together and ready to disintegrate at any time. But in our girl's fight for survival these are the least of her concerns and so we catch a glimpse of her running around doing her weekend errands in "decayed couture"!
Finally, even during bad times there is the occasional merriment in the form of some one's birthday or baptism which begs to be dressed in "cheerful clothes". Our heroine brings down a musty old box from her attic where she has put away the girlie dresses of her cheerful youth to wait for better times! As she unpacks those delicate Liberty print floral dresses and jackets with utmost care, she notices to her utter dismay that the icy hands of ill fortune that had pulled her down into this rotten hole, had extended its hands right into this box as well, shredding the dresses into a "holey" mess! With a sunken heart and a threadbare dress our girl marches on to face the world as it is today...
Apart from the skinny silhouette which was a first in Yamamoto's collection, a 2 inch heeled shoe too was debuted by the designer whose shoes in the past neatly fell into the category of flat soled trainers! The finger tip exposing gloves too added a groovy edge to the collection!
Though the shoddy financial situation of his company might have been a contributing factor in Yamamoto choosing commercially sell able clothes over conceptual ones, still one has to commend Yamamoto for coming up with an extremely functional and smart work wear wardrobe with a bit of punk rock chic thrown in, in the form of bullet riddled jackets, pants and dresses.
How do you design for a generation that believes in "Nothing risqued, nothing gained!" , a time when runway looks are deemed conservative and the young things in limelight believe in voyeurism as the supreme form of entertainment? A case in point is the incident during Spring Summer 2010 fashion week which saw Rihanna alter a Gareth Pugh dress from the same season to provoke, shock and thereby enhance her recall factor.
So on one side you have the younglings daring to bare and on the other side the designers struggling to stay afloat in a sinking economy. Add to that the rich tightening their purses, probably investing their money elsewhere what with the stock prices plummeting and stars like Rihanna combing Paris to build a wardrobe for her next performance. And Jean Paul Gaultier realises which side his bread is buttered on, and comes up with a ready to wear collection not for the elegant ladies of pony riding classes but for the likes of Lady Gaga, Kate Perry, Rihanna and their clan who like flaunting their well toned bodies in little nothings!
He starts by naming the collection "G-spot" and before you raise a hammer, the G is for "guêpière", (the French word for "waspie" or wasp-waist) girdle and garter and all the other little things in your wardrobe, for his collection was a lingerie fest taken to the extreme with girls sauntering down the runway in delicately constructed cone-bras, corsets, basques, trompe l'oeil tights resembling stockings and French knickers, leaving the likes of MIA spoilt for choice and tempting the likes of Paris Hilton to consider wearing knickers again, all the while emphatically establishing Jean as the ultimate king of underwear!
Now to put some clothes on the models who had their names written across their chest or down their neck in Gothic style, Jean Paul Gaultier started with denim dungarees casually tossed on tough worker women dressed indifferently not caring much whether their lingerie is peeking out or not.
This was followed by an even tougher bunch of girls who looked as if they had just emerged from a knife-wielding-gang-war what with their Brenton striped tops slashed along the stripes and rewrapped around their bodies as tops and tight mini-dresses!
A closeup of the girls after their tough encounter shows them to be real dare devils with their hats cocked to one side and their tattered clothes revealing their pointy satin cone bras armouring and protecting their life and femininity!
The focus gradually shifts to another part where "once-fashionistas" deeply dissatisfied with the happenings on the street, decide to take law into their own hands and prepare for a guerrilla war of sorts, mixing their miniskirts, monokinis and bondage boots with traditional military wear of khaki pants and long trench coats!
Even the power wielding corporate barons of Wall Street and La Défense decide to give their support to this "we need no clothes" recession inspired minimalism by carelessly tossing their jackets over their "couture" lingerie serving as bullet proof vests and proving that what lies underneath can very well serve as outerwear!
Meet the leader of the brigand, ready for combat with her gun belt slung around her waist and stomach padded to protect against the on slaughter of bullets!
As the "lingerie revolution" gains currency, corporate women to athletes to young girls adopt the display of girdles and cone bras as the de rigueur way of dressing with the girdles serving as miniskirts and cone bras morphing into shoulder and bum pads!
The party girls dressed themselves in techno orange and lemon yellow dresses with enough emphasis on lingerie!
The red carpet looks were executed either as long flowing gowns puncuated with cone bras or girdles or as embellished gowns generously slit in the front to prominently display bras or as "Lady Gaga dresses" tightly hugging the body either as a long laced "corset gown" or as a shiny body suit with patches of black protecting the wearer's modesty!
It's noteworthy that the armful of leather gauntlets formed of brightly colored leather strips that hung loosely on the model's slim arms were in fact inspired by the plastic bangles worn by Rajasthani tribal woman!
The accessories were in tandem with the wild mood in the street with thick chains adorning the necks and ears, big bright plastic bangles bulking up the hands and bondage boots and heels protecting the legs!
Apart from the "extraBRAganza" on display, the collection offered mostly performance clothes befitting a rock star excepting a few tuxedos, trench coats and dresses! Overall a very entertaining collection, though tighter edition would have rendered the collection less repetitive!
Place:Espace Ephémère Tuileries, Jardin Des Tuileries, Paris
Inspiration:Recession
Color Palette:Typical spring colors of lavender, turquoise, mauve, pistachio-green, flamingo pink, coral and peach dominating over stronger colors of purple, black and gray
Collection's composition:
Accessories:high heeled shoes and hand bags smothered in either pink and peach silk roses or zips
Philosophy Behind Collection:"Credit crunch couture — the world is cutting back so we literally started cutting away chunks of the ballgowns — and with the remnants we created new clothes,” Viktor Horsting said backstage with Ralph Snoeren
Targeted Buyers:While ballgowns and bulbous recycled tulle dresses will serve as editorial cynosures and fashion maverick's playthings, the lingerie trend inspired appliquéd silk trousers, shorts and camis together with the tightly draped cocktail dresses will find their way into people's homes.
The collection mostly favours the thin!
High Points:As characteristic of Victor & Rolf, the designer duo focused on a high fantasy collection which was extremely pleasing to the eye and the hacked away ballgowns were a testament to the creative and technical calibre of the designers. The same high fantasy ride continued with the recycled tulle dresses and tulle frilled tuxedos the only difference being that they translated into something more wearable!
Low Points:The lingerie inspired looks executed through stain shorts and pants with lace inset while appearing comfortable to wear looked a bit clichéd!
Collection's Composition: boxy emerald green jackets with Chinese embroideries, heavily beaded shirts, pink brocade coat with gold brocade, dresses wrapped like a saree, slim cut cropped pants, ikat printed cuffed shorts, short saree skirt with a floor grazing drape, a strong-shouldered jacket lavishly embroidered in silver, micro floral print pants
Accessories: black tipped pumps with emerald metallic heels, ikat print pumps, multi roped pearls hung with a large crystals, chunky collars of semi precious beads hung with rectangular metallic pendants, bold cuffs composed of diamante, crystals and dazzling stones, bags in beige contrasted with black lining, emerald green clutch in metallic skin, red envelope clutch in gold brocade, ikat print clutches
Pièces de résistance:
Philosophy Behind Collection:Dries described the collection as "authentic". By using the antique skills of Indian weavers working on hand looms and ethnic fabrics from Bali, Sumatra and Uzbekistan, Dries stressed the importance of not forgetting the past but rather applying it in today's context and enriching ourselves in the process. A good moral lesson during recession!
High Points:Who but the genius Dries could have thought that something as common (at least in India) as an ikat printed silk saree could be transformed into dresses and skirts resplendent in Parisian chic, that a blazer could be cut out of a heavily worked silver threaded Banarasi saree or a delicate pink gold brocaded saree could transform itself into a crisp cuffed shorts? It was as if a young European girl on the cusp of womanhood was playing dress up with an Indian woman's sarees dreaming of cutting them into trousers, shorts and blazers and wrapping them into dresses and skirts to suit her tastes, thereby juxtaposing tradition with modernity! The ikat print shoes and purses in addition to the heavy weight pearl chokers are also worthy closet inclusions.
Low Points:The collection as such didn't leave anything to grouse about, except at times the styling seemed to fall a bit short especially in those places where the look was getting a bit busy with too many prints vying for attention.
Collection's Composition: pouf sleeved cocktail dresses, tuxedo styled LBDs with DJ lapels and bloused back either sheer or ruched forming a spine, delicate dresses comprising of sheer fabric wrapped over nude slips, softly draped leather dresses, pleated polyester jumpsuits asymmetrically falling over one shoulder, poncho style dresses, jumpsuits and cock dresses embellished with countless beads, crystals and sequins
Accessories: heavy necklaces, earrings and bracelets appearing vintage and plundered from a Pharaoh's tome, shoes in metal or crystal high heels buckled on or ornamented with thick gold anklets, clutches and hobos in python or soft leather
Pièces de résistance: Way too many!
Philosophy Behind Collection: In what Elbaz termed as "new minimalism" the focus was more on new techniques of wrapping, tailoring and the use of innovative fabrics mostly man made that this could be the future of fashion. He realised his vision of minimalism by deliberately toning down the aesthetics of the collection which needs a closer inspection by a reasonably "fashion" conscious eye to appreciate the nuances of asymmetry, draping and embellishing embedded in his collection.
Targeted Buyers: "Real Women" - not too thin
High Points: JEWELLERY JEWELLERY JEWELLERY - worth a princess!
Low Points: Despite being Elbaz's finest collection till date, the clothes lacked a sense of aesthetics, these are not clothes that send you into a rapture at first glance, but rather pleases by their attention to detail!
Inspiration: Fashion's creative force seesawing with greedy consumerism, adult delinquents, shoulder pads
Color Palette: Varied- bright colors like red, orange, pink, gold, military green, beige, blended with Rei's usual colors of black and white
Collection's Composition: Shoulders being the main focus, the collection comprised of leather shoulder braces, jackets and dresses "embellished" with shoulder parts of jackets in various colors and patterns, skirts and dresses constructed from a collage of fabrics including brocade, silk and sequin scraps, floor length transparent beige trench coats; all their volume counterbalanced by either plain trousers or polka dotted biker shorts worn over black hose.
Accessories: Extreme candy flossed hair in pink, lime and lilac, decorated with giant safety pins and little conical hats by Stephen Jones, little lace-up shoes
Pièces de résistance:
Philosophy Behind Collection: Rei emphasised creativity as the driving force behind fashion as opposed to mindless commercialisation realised through the herd mentality towards prevalent trends. She made her point by poking fun at fashion's current obsession with 80's inspired grand shoulders and proved that she can express any trend in her collection through her own language of deconstruction and superior creativity.She had dresses and jackets not made with pointy attention seeking shoulders but rather used shoulders of various jackets as ornaments for her clothes.
Targeted Buyers: Comme des Garçons' typical customer namely the art student or one with extreme sensitivity to the nuances of fashion. In a word, for the anti-fashion minority!
High Points: This collection once again proved Rei's superior craftsmanship in addition to her extreme creativity manifested through her strong command of deconstruction.The inclusion of rich colors, this spring, through the coercion of a multitude of fabrics creates a strong visual impact.
Low Points: Though an exemplary collection, this is not one of Rei Kawakubo's defining collections as she pretty much stayed within her comfort zone of seen before techniques of deconstruction.
'Mavericks' is too mild a term to describe this repeat offender at the Front Row, I guess 'enfant terrible' would be a more precise description of her! Attention she grabbed plenty, permanently etching images of her in the delicate minds of the infinite that set eyes on her through her style, inimitable, for reasons more than obvious. Brace yourselves for a ride through the Horrorland of the Mother of all Mavericks, Rihanna! Seriously, its a terrible injustice to her to say that she took Paris by storm, in my opinion she is raking a whole tsunami out there! Now for all those fashion show attendees in Paris experiencing mild tremors at the shows, you know who's to blame...
Here she is en route to Jean-Paul Gaultier's fashion show, dressed in Loubs, skin tight leather pants and what appears to be, depending on my mood(cynical vs generous), either a blazer straight from a "cut and paste" crafts class or borrowed from the costume department of a ridiculous sci-fi movie that never saw the light! You decide.
Shemakes a grand entry with everything perfectly held in place...
And oops why moved my shield of honor wonders a much troubled Rihanna!
Michael Jackson's "Anne, are you ok?", is what comes to my mind right now.To all my tough-as-a-nail readers who haven't fallen over backwards from their perching place, a big shout out from me "BRAVO"!
All the images, sketches, photos and paintings used in this blog are my copyright unless otherwise credited with a source. The blog does not endorse any product or shop featured in it. Readers are advised to buy products and use services of the mentioned shops at their own discretion.
Inspired by Stella McCartney's Spring Summer 2010 Ready-To-Wear Womenswear
