Lace, Lace, and More Lace

I have to say I'm really liking the Christian Lacroix couture show. There was just a lot of...everything. A lot of historical references mashed in, a lot of decadence, a lot of colors, a lot of lace, a lot of details. Somehow it all works, and I just can't stop looking. Stylistically, it's not forward-thinking, but it's still beautiful. There's just so much to look at. They were the type of clothes that are really pretty from far away, and from inches away. With all the different references would have easy to make it look discombobulated and random, but Lacroix made it all work surprisingly well. But what I immediately liked was the headpieces and lace veils. All this lace this week is really making me crave lace. The question is, how crazy will I look wearing a lace veil?
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Givenchy Fall 08 Couture

I look forward to Ricardo Tisci's couture collection every season at Givenchy. His dark, gothic collection from a few seasons ago was perhaps the first couture collection I really fell hard for, especially when I saw the detail shots of the show itself. Breathtaking. So I'm always really excited for Givenchy's couture presentations, and although I don't love it quite as much as that mermaid collection, it maintains that dark, detailed quality I love about Tisci's work. My favorites for sure were the lace and fringe gowns, some with jackets over them, and the fur-hooded dresses. The colors were typical Givenchy dark colors with some shocking pink thrown in for good measure (just like at Chanel...hmm...), but this time around there was less black and more brown. Keep up the good work, Msr. Tisci.
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Chanel Fall 08 Couture

Ah, Chanel. I always look forward to Chanel's couture show, and it's usually one of my favorites. Karl Lagerfeld may be controversial, a lot of people might hate him, but I have a lot of respect for him. He's good at what he does. He takes a few old symbols and manages to make them look fresh and new every. single. season. He's made countless variations on tweed suits, quilted bags, camellias, and they always look new. I mean, tweed jackets? I don't even like tweed! And yet, every season he marches out his latest variation on that classic boxy jacket, and I always think it looks fantastic. This season was no different, although it was quite different from the spring couture show inspired by seashells. The tweed suits had really cool, bold shapes, but what I really loved were the dresses (this is couture we're talking about). The color palette was my favorite black, white, navy, and grey, with some really cool, stiff, architectural shapes. The embroidery and crystal details were absolutely breathtaking, and I really liked the pleating around the waist, skirts, and hems of dresses. There were just a lot of really great elements executed perfectly. It also helps that Karl Lagerfeld's inspiration is so interesting and wide-ranging. Using the organ as inspiration. Only he would ever think to do that. And it worked so well, from the gigantic metal pipes that formed the centerpiece of the space to the tubular pleat-like details that used his inspiration but wasn't completely obvious. And the Anna Wintour bobs were hilarious.

Dior Fall 2008 Couture

Nowadays, the shows never seem to end, with the fall couture shows in Paris starting hot on the heels of the resort collections. I like couture because it is really a dying art form that is fading off scarily, and it really embraces the art of fashion and exquisite craftsmanship. But I was a little unimpressed with yesterday's Dior show. That's not to say I was disappointed, there are plenty of amazing clothes here, but it didn't immediately capture me the way that amazing spring show did. The silhouettes mostly favored large flared skirts and other classic Dior shapes, and there were some really pretty pieces, but the elements were ones that were seen a lot on the spring and fall ready-to-wear runways: lace, sheer fabrics, tailoring (although what is a Dior show without tailoring, really). There wasn't any forward-leaping trend that I could latch onto and obsess over. Just some pretty spectacular workmanship and line. So overall it doesn't inspire me much, but it's definitely not bad. Maybe it's not dark enough for me. I'm currently obsessed with a darker vibe than this decadent show put on (Rodarte, anyone?).
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