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Ms. Horyn weighs in on FW08 Collections (Faust's comments included)

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Ms. Horyn weighs in on FW08 Collections (Faust's comments included)

    They Come Bearing Mystique










    Paris




    WHENEVER Nicolas Ghesquiere,
    the designer of Balenciaga, presents a collection, fashion writers and
    buyers always seem to fall into a swoon ? myself included.
    It has
    happened three or four times in the last few years that a new language
    was born. Or so we declared in so many words. People left the little
    showroom on the Rue Cassette ? on Tuesday morning a light rain fell ?
    feeling they had again witnessed history. [yea, seriously, get over him already, he's not that talented, and the collection wasn't that good]




    In truth, of course, they had witnessed nothing revolutionary. The
    history of Balenciaga, which opened its doors before World War II, is
    made up of a thousand such moments. Old-timers will tell you so. The
    story may be apocryphal, but when Diana Vreeland showed up at the house
    in the 1960s for a photo shoot with the model Penelope Tree, Cristobal
    Balenciaga sent them away. He didn?t want his clothes photographed on a
    Mod child, even a pedigreed one. Such a gesture of refusal seems
    completely foreign by today?s celebrity-rule standards, and therefore
    radical.




    Mr. Ghesquiere holds our attention because his clothes are
    independent of whatever else is happening in fashion. In materials,
    technique, proportion and mystery of design, his clothes are the most
    interesting of his generation. There is no
    mystery at Viktor & Rolf, where on Tuesday, Viktor Horsting and
    Rolf Snoeren embedded in block letters the words ?No? and ?Dream? into
    wool coats and tops so that they appeared to leap off the models?
    chests like the raging heart of a cartoon figure.




    But what had the designers really accomplished? As much as they were
    saying no to the crassness of the world, they were adding to its noise,
    and the clothes ? the jackets punched with staples, the ballooning silk
    dresses with pleated knees ? were not very good anyway.




    If there is outrage left in Jean Paul Gaultier,
    the one-time enfant terrible, it has been vastly qualified by
    commercial success. He obviously has no ethical feelings about using
    fur, since he made it the theme of his collection on Tuesday night,
    complete with animal prints and the stray, disquieting ?baas? of lambs
    on the soundtrack
    . But it is even more puzzling that someone of his
    talent doesn?t question whether this approach is old-fashioned. The fur
    did little to hide the fact that we?ve seen many of the looks before. [so it was real. jeebus[70] ]




    The difference at Balenciaga is excitement, and it comes from
    watching a designer not merely push himself in new directions but also
    attempt to seek more clarity, more preciseness. How many designers have
    tried to replicate the finesse and austerity of late-?50s couture,
    using the chic black dress, without asking what is needed to relate the
    style to today?




    Mr. Ghesquiere?s opening threesome of black dresses were done in
    stiff wool crepe or gabardine, yet they looked light. They were cut
    close to the body, with sleeves whittled down to armbands that gave the
    dresses an erotic edge, yet they were wearable. They looked chic, but
    more than that, you sensed an energy, and it was supplied by treating
    the couture fabrics and the drapery with a vigor and lightness of hand
    rather than reverence.




    This was Mr. Ghesquiere?s approach throughout the collection. ?Even
    though the fabrics look quite heavy, I wanted everything to be light,?
    he said afterward. Patent-leather coats in shades of chocolate and
    burgundy were unlined, their glossy surfaces evoking his interest in
    futuristic materials.




    Yet, when you think of his previous efforts to combine Balenciaga
    references, like the sack dress or the barrel coat, with
    science-fiction fantasies, this collection seemed more mature. The fit
    and variety of the clothes also made them more inclusive than the last
    few collections. There were round-shoulder jackets in men?s wear tweeds
    layered over vests and shown with laser-sharp skirts, and beautiful
    sleeveless tops made from randomly pressing lengths of velvet against
    satin, in colors like robin?s-egg blue and golden yellow.




    At the end of the show, Mr. Ghesquiere sent out dresses in
    hand-painted and embroidered latex, the floral patterns as classic as a
    Spanish wallpaper print. Latex was once the domain of Mr. Gaultier and
    other mavericks eager to challenge taboos; noble decoration was for
    couturiers.




    If Mr. Ghesquiere?s clothes look incredibly light this season in
    spirit as well as construction, it may because he is not burdened by
    anyone?s preconceptions about modern fashion, least of all his own.




    Sex must be in the air. Rei Kawakubo?s
    look through the boudoir keyhole was witty and informed. In a Comme des
    Garçons collection on Tuesday that included rounded coats ventilated
    with lip-shaped openings and lots of frilly garter straps crisscrossing
    bare backs, Ms. Kawakubo surprised even as she agitated. Chaste white
    shirts served as a foil for glen plaid jackets reduced to a lapel
    section or a sleeve and then harnessed tightly to the body with straps.
    Alone, the stripped-down jackets were fantastic.




    The bondage references were generally funny and subtle, as though
    Ms. Kawakubo was commenting on how deviant sexual tastes have merged
    with a mass Valentine-box cheesiness. That was registered in frothy red
    tulle skirts and Mary Janes with gold chain straps. The ruffled-edged
    lips on pink and black coats gave the show a Surrealist touch, yet,
    with white satin bras strapped on some of the tops (their cups, oops,
    slightly dented), it was hard to suppress the thought that Ms. Kawakubo
    was mimicking designers who imitate her.




    Comme des Garçons? other designers, Junya Watanabe
    and Tao Kurihara, also showed on Tuesday. Ms. Kurihara, whose
    collection is called Tao, concentrated on knits and voluminous, playful
    shapes. Daisy loops were embroidered on sheer skirts and sweaters,
    their sleeves extra long; they looked delicately unfinished, with
    plaits of yarn running through them.




    Despite the sweet palette and childish collages, Ms. Kurihara?s
    knits suggest an older, knowing hand. She gets the results she wants.




    Mr. Watanabe is famous in fashion circles for saying little ? and
    sometimes saying too much with his collections. He has done punk and
    hip, dandy tailoring, garden prints and Chanel homages. Yet when he
    restricts himself to a simple idea, he is dynamic. He showed dozens of
    ways of draping plain black and charcoal jersey, reinforcing the notion
    of silhouette with geometrical headpieces that were covered (along with
    the models? faces) by tight black cloth.




    It was an amazing performance, and though Mr. Watanabe also showed
    strong tailored pieces, like cape-back jackets over long skirts that
    ended at the ankles with trouser legs, the draping said all he needed
    to say
    . [which was what?]



























    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • caterermelt
    Junior Member
    • Jul 2023
    • 1

    #2
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