CHRISTIAN DIOR HAUTE COUTURE SPRING 2012
Last month, the dreamy city of Paris, in France, once again hosted the entire world’s only ‘legal’ Haute Couture Fashion Week. The term Haute Couture is protected and defined by French law, and only a very select group of fashion houses are allowed to claim rights to putting on a couture show, with an annually updated list. Certain criteria must be met: a European heritage, a working atalier in Paris, private clients, and day- and evening-wear looks presented twice a year in a formal collection. Clearly, its an expensive and exclusive undertaking. Among the houses designing couture collections are Givenchy, Stéphane Rolland, Elie Saab, Chane (of course), and Christian Dior. Nonetheless, couture has a certain exclusivity and luster that remains untouched by mass media. The dresses are avante-garde, custom- and hand-made, and made to measure – real fashion. I have a compliant though: all the shows this past season were underwhelming to say the least. In my opinion, most of the fashion houses just showed prêt-à-porter collections: there was nothing over-the-top or custom-made. With one exception: Dior. For me, Dior embodies exactly what true Parisian Haute Couture should be, and is. East meets West tailoring (and model casting), massive ball-gowns, leather over-the-elbow gloves, all in the season’s pastille color palette. Click Read More for a video of the twenty-two minute show and photo snapshots of all the finale gowns.
PHOTO CREDIT: STYLE.COM
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