Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Couture is here! And Giambatista Valli rocks!

As luck would have it, I'm re-starting this blog business smack in the middle of Haute Couture week, and the Fall collections are very exciting!

First up, Giambatista Valli's coming-of-age/confirmation collection, his first Couture, which was more than a respectable debut, and more like proof of his worth.

The beginning was innocent and ethereal, with pretty looks, which seemed designed for little girls. Little bits of white fabric decorated A-line dresses and coats, making it look like little butterflies had found shelter on them. Shades of white, coral, red and black made up a collection that seemed to recount the story of an evolution, of a bringing up.


The butterfly theme seemed to be continued by dresses that draped around the body like a coccoon, in beautiful white silk.



It then turned out it wasn't about butterflies necessarily, but more about things with wings, heh. White puffy feathers continued the first, youthfully innocent section of the show.



The evolution of the woman in the designer's viewpoint continued with a menswear-inspired look, suggestive to me of a tomboy, when Mirte Maas strutted the catwalk in a white shirt, tucked into a grey tweed pencil skirt. However the big deal about this look is, of course, the length of the shirt, a reference to the blouse de cabine, the traditional garment of the atelier worker (perhaps a symbol to Valli's proud graduation to couture?).



From there, the looks grew consistently more mature, first through the introduction of crystal-infused, shiny dresses and flapper-inspired combinations of tweed, feathers and crystals, and later by leopard print, darker feathers and rich, blood red flowing fabric symbollic of a magisterial creature, of the bird 'all grown up', or, to be less literal, of the woman that  has 'arrived'.









The collection ended on a pretty sensual note, with dresses suitable for a woman that exudes confidence. The big finish was provided by Frida Gustavsson in a dress consisting of layers upon layers of black and white, soft, flowy fabric that was only fitting for the show. 



Photos by Yannis Vlamos/GoRunway.com via Style.com.

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos, love how you actually interpreted the 'coming of age' story - my favorite were the dark feathered dresses.
    Also, great blog :)

    Cad
    http://cadattack.blogspot.com/

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  2. ah, thanks!
    you are my very first commenter! yay!

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  3. Thanks for your lovely comment on the Dior couture show, Jo! We're on the same page :)

    I'm following you from now on!

    Sam

    fashionthroughtravel.blogspot.com

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