Dries Van Noten – Collage Master
Dries Van Noten returned to what he does best… mixing colors and prints like only he can. He went further and played also with different fabrics and textures sometimes all in the same article of clothing. It worked brilliantly especially in the beautiful dresses he sent out, most notably his long dresses. Dedicating the collection to the liberal woman. One who dares and has an individual sense of self. No matter what the reference, Dries Van Noten, is a designer who remains unique and often tells his seasonal stories only as he can. A stunning collection.
Photos: Yannis Vlamos – gorunway.com
Dries Van Noten – Mr. Clean & Beautiful
Just a few runway shots to whet your appetite. Dries Van Noten’s Spring collection embraced clean white, metallics, prints and shots of color… some fading from one color to another. A beautiful collection. More to come later…..
Photos Yannis Vlamos / runway.com / style.com
Raf Simons is reacting to the recent invasion of designers in his campground of minimalism. He decided to stomp bravely into their turf…. maximalism. Stomp he did but with a clear vision and a very controlled hand. There was no hedonistic excess. His ideas of form and shape were based on modern couture.
Mr. Simons expressed, ” I thought about maximalism - its forms and shapes, with codes that could be brought to Jil Sander in a couture language.”
He played with the basic tee shirt shape on top and volume in controlled forms on the bottom in the form of long skirts. He switched on his presentation with a high voltage color palette. Grass greens, bright pink, flame orange, electric blue, hot purple, sizzle yellow, red-red… he inserted floral prints that looked as if it were bleeding through the fabric and then very bold stripes in colors to underline his measured steps outside of the box of what we have always expected at Jil Sander. He tossed familiar sportswear outerwear pieces like a lightweight parka over his parade of colors in the most unexpected combinations.
This collection is one of Raf Simons strongest for Jil Sander. This is a man who dares and leads fashion. He continues to guide the Jil Sander label forward and is always one of if not the most prophetic in Milan.
Photos: Monica Feudi / gorunway.com / Style.com
BALENCIAGA – f.w 2010 – other worldly
Nicolas Ghesquiere continues his push into the future with a close regard to the heritage of Balenciaga. He intelligently launched into new territory with his tailoring. Remembering the shapes of the past and morphing them into shapes relevant to a modern woman’s closet. Some shapes bordered on boxlike but engineered to be more than flattering. Fur trim present and accounted for as the season has mandated. Mr. Ghesquiere’s use of color splicing and his choice of using pale grey, pink, pale green, apricot, aqua, white – a color palette more common to a Spring collection brought a unexpected but soothing appeal. His use of colorful embroidered knits were also a new element. The pant silhouette is still as narrow as can be and the skirt still mini short. Text was used as the new print. The one odd element that didn’t work as well for me was his white padded outerwear tops with black yokes. Nicolas Ghesquiere has once again pressed far further than any of his peers with this precise and beautiful collection.
all photos DChen 
As Fashion Week in Paris rolled on, there were just times with the schedule that we had to choose between a showroom appointment and a runway show. Towards mid and end of the schedule, it becomes increasingly harder to do both. We had to miss the Viktor & Rolf show because of a prescheduled appointment at The Park Hyatt Hotel. At 10:00 am on a rainy Tuesday morning, we made our way to the new Viktor & Rolf showroom hidden away in a courtyard on the very busy Boulevard Montmartre.
The most beautiful portion of their show came at the end…. when a series of tulle gowns in various colors paraded one after the other. Pale blue, yellow, rose, pink….. not your ordinary gowns. Not for this duo…. these became sculptures, they appeared to have been cut with a chainsaw much like an ice sculpture would have been shaved.
One would think that the display of mannequin-ed tulle gowns would have been enough…. I then noticed the beautiful floral adorned shoes they had created for their runway show. Fussy floral bouquets to the untrained eye…. but at very close range, which you have the privilege of at your writing appointment, I realized they were completely made of colored latex. Viktor & Rolf never cease to amaze with their quirky sense of creativity.
A note to finish… Friday evening, while passing through the Meurice Hotel, it was a very comforting sight to see Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren having a quiet dinner together at the Restaurant le Dali, designed by Philippe Starck. Just the two of them. No entourage, no assistants, no adoring fans. An early dinner together, quietly celebrating a great show that took place at 1:30pm that afternoon. I smiled while thinking to myself that even the celebrated, having just put on a huge show, just want a quiet moment to themselves every once in awhile . Bravo.
PARIS – Balenciaga s/s 2010
I’m already on day 2 in Paris. What happened between 23 September, and now, has been a blur. I was in Milan for 4 days and managed not a single post. The condensed trip to Milan and the wicked pace of showroom appointments and order writing left me very little time to even think about writing about what I was seeing. I will have to do a recap of Milan after the fact. I feel if I do not get right onto Paris while it’s fresh… I fear that I will be a week behind forever. So onward…..
photos-DChen
Nicolas Ghesquiere has long held the frontrunner position for Paris fashion week. The spring/summer 2010 Balenciaga collection was shown at the Hotel de Crillon, once more. Mr. Ghesquiere delivers and seldom ever disappoints with his prophetic vision. His collection was a parade of urban and futuristic forces. Leather was dominant and his use of color spliced into his presentation was very well done. Rather than hard edged, his beautiful use of bold color strokes gave the collection life and dimension. His sleek, futuristic silhouette was back after last season’s detour. The lady is gone but the woman marches forward. The pants were supersonic slim ranging from motocross leather to printed fabric. The skirts were all short… some faux wrapped and some pleated. Of special note were the skirts towards the end of the show. Sliced pleated minis in a melange of colors were absolutely breathtaking. Unsure of what material they were constructed of but the impact of color and the engineered cuts were really a visual treat.
photos-DChen
Mr. Ghesquiere sets the bar quite high for the week to come here in Paris. I applaud him for his vision and his consistency. It was a great collection to start the week. Bravo, encore. We have our writing appointment in the showroom next Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing the clothes up even closer and prolonging the pleasure.
