Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Spring 2013 Paris

Flicking through a Jean Paul Gaultier couture collection is a yearly pleasure. Always interesting, inventive, often provocative, it’s everything I look for in a couture show. It won’t please everybody but I liked the way it moved from Spanish references to eighties shoulders, to cowgirl fringing, to Paris boudoir, to Bollywood. It’s theatre, refreshingly irreverent and just a little crazy.

Source: Style.com

Valentino Couture Spring 2013 Paris

The beginning of this show had potential with the unimaginable amounts of hand-rolled piping creating wrought iron patterns over sheers but then went too quickly into rich little convent girl formality before descending into the predictable flowery, floaty, unremarkable dresses that for me have come to define Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli as the head designers of this company.  Where you would have picked out a Valentino dress for its grownup sexy sophistication, now you do the same for something that is confusingly girly-matron.

Source: Style.com

Armani Prive Couture 2013 Paris

This collection was dramatic and chic. It has a Silk Route feel, with a possible narrative of the rich well-travelled woman with an outfit for every Sultan she meets along the way. The stick-toggle that was referenced throughout, apparently as some sort of sceptre, was used very imaginatively, suggestively barely holding a jacket together in one look, securing a dress on the collar or twisting a skirt at the waist.  The reds, greys and black were sophisticated, if a little dark for spring and the jewellry was incredible… I can see this collection being used for editorials and red carpet which is the perfect combination.

Source: Style.com

Elie Saab Couture 2013 Spring

I enjoy how easy it is to write about Elie Saab, nothing shocks, nothing jars, nothing underwhelms.  Overlooking the rather clumsy title of An Ode to Delicateness, the beautiful creations in this collection are again glorious examples of beading, lace, drape and subtlety. They look light and effortless and will be very popular with stylists and actresses alike.

Source: Style.com

Chanel Couture Spring 2013 Paris

It’s me, it must be me. I must be missing some chromosome that means I don’t get Karl Lagerfeld’s vision because I think this is truly awful. Let’s start with the dead bird that appears to be sitting on all these poor girls’ heads or perhaps focus on the horrible make up or those silver (latex??) legging/shoe things. Nothing here speaks of Coco, nothing. These shapeless dresses do a woman’s body no favours. He has fixated on a very horizontal aesthetic, with width in the cut at so many points: across the body at the shoulder, at the waist, the hip and the cuff, then added to the effect with horizontals in the tweed, in the ruching and the pleating.  The wide frame at the shoulders particularly made the models look like American Football players and then instead of adding some element of tailoring to give balance, the dress and skirts and coats flare back out again. Astonishing.

I’m sure the workmanship and the fabrics and the detailing are stunning but if they don’t translate into photos then it doesn’t work. Clearly you don’t look at couture for what’s going to be in the shops next season, but you do look at it to be inspired by wonderful creativity and imaginative reach. This makes me laugh  and cry in equal measure, especially when the fashion journalists eat it up without a word of discontent.

Source: Style.com

Giambattista Valli Couture Spring 2013 Paris

This isn’t one of my favourite Valli couture collections but it’s so inoffensive compared to the other offenders that I can only be positive. I like the monochrome palette of black and white with its hints of silver, the interesting use of bold gold accessories and the dynamic prints and patterns, although these were less successful the closer they came to animal skins. There’s a younger feel to his designs and I like the short preppy shapes at the start of the collection and also, bypassing the  flowery interlude, the later more elegant evening gowns.

Source: Style.com

Christian Dior Couture Spring 2013 Paris

This is Raf Simons’ second crack at Couture for Dior and I still don’t understand the narrative. Who is it for, what is it, what are the references, where is the cohesion? The workmanship may be thrilling but something beyond that has to translate into the pictures and the message. If you read the show notes you hear all the PR stuff about Spring and rebirth and archival flower themes but orange and yellow tights just don’t do that for me. I don’t like coloured tights anyway but here they seem particularly jarring and out of place in a way that is totally distracting and when I saw a pair of sheer navy tights I wanted to cry. Some of the more metallic materials that had a iridescent effect felt very similar to the ones used by Giorgio Armani a couple of seasons ago. Also I have to say I really don’t care for the wigs or the make-up; the models just look as if they have haven’t washed their hair and the Swarovski crystals on the lips are so not haute!

Source: Style.com

Altelier Versace Couture Spring 2013 Paris

These two pink creations came out about half way through this tacky collection and wow, do they stand out for the sheer (get it) lack of taste, elegance or artistry. Of course you don’t look to Versace for ‘upper class’ it’s a sexy, extravagant label but despite throwing in some daring combinations of mink and metal, leather and silk, chiffon and neon, this collection missed even those marks. Horrible fluorescent yellows will not look good on anyone and heavy black fur epaulettes seem so wrong for Spring. The make -up makes even Karlie Kloss look cheap, which is quite an achievement.

Source: Style.com

Golden Globes 2013

I have not posted for a loooooooong time and for that I apologise. The usual ‘life’ excuses I’m afraid. So I thought I would start my first 2013 post with a red carpet review. The Golden Globes were held last Sunday and as always it was all about the dresses. Once again I was disappointed that there were so few truly stunning looks. Below are the limited hits and the multiple misses.

Emily Blunt in Michael Kors. I love this look and I confess I also love her. I’m not a massive lace fan but in this lovely yellow gold colour with the great pink jewellery highlights which are so unexpected, this is a great look and she pulls it off perfectly.

Debra Messing in Donna Karan is a huge miss. I was never much of a Will & Grace fan but I have enjoyed watching Debra in Smash, especially all the great jewellery her character wears, but this is just so unflattering. It’s as if she’s brought the stage curtain with her. It makes her look several dress sizes bigger and gives her no height or definition anywhere. And then all the bracelets make you wonder if she really is channelling flamenco.

Emily Mortimer in who knows, but they should be ashamed. I love West Wing and was so looking forward to the Newsroom when I heard that Aaron Sorkin was writing it, but Emily’s character MacKenzie makes me want to pull my hair out and her LK Bennett adverts aren’t much better. So I do come to this with a pretty weighted agenda but even so, it really is that bad. Very unflattering to her figure in both cut and fabric, it also seems poorly made and the make up makes her look totally washed out. I’m embarrassed she’s a Brit and she should change her stylist.

Halle Berry in Versace. It’s nice to see Halle going for classy at this year’s Globes…! I suppose after the beautiful winning-the-Oscar dress it was only downhill from there, but this is horrendous. This woman is nearly 50. And yes, she has a stunning figure and yes, she is beautiful but you do not need a slash to the thigh on one side and half your hip hanging out on the other. This is so tacky, wow….

Helen Mirren in Badgley Mischka. Please stand up and give a round of applause for Ms Mirren. How amazing does she look? Elegant, chic, sexy. The whole package.

Heidi Klum in Alexandre Vauthier. I really don’t like this. The heavily padded shoulder supposedly balances out the slit on the opposite leg but it just feels heavy and contrived and she can do so much better.

Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad. I think she looks amazing in this outfit. She’s not giving great face in this photo but the dress fits her like a glove and I like the nude layer giving hints of skin without over-exposing, which is so much better than the short slips we keep seeing under sheer dresses (Kerry Washington, Julianna Margulies, take note). And you know, she’s Jennifer Lopez, she can pull this stuff off.

Kate Hudson in Alexander McQueen. This looks so perfect on her, with its sophisticated colour and simple, clean lines. The bold gold beading is stunning and adds a harder edge to the soft drape.   Her simple make up, hair and accessories make this a chic and effortless ‘Best Dressed’.

Marion Cotillard in Christian Dior Haute Couture. I want to cry into my pillow over this outfit. I normally really like what Marion wears; she has a different and refreshing taste but this not good at all. I really REALLY don’t like asymmetric hems at all and then the uber tacky orange heels are awful and I don’t think the slicked down hair and odd nudey orange lip gloss are doing her any favours either.

Morena Baccarin in Valentino. The moment I saw this I knew it had to be Valentino; who else does theatrical nun/funeral/mother of the bride this well? I think she is so pretty and I can’t believe she looked in the mirror and honestly thought this is the best she could look. I can’t believe and I won’t believe it. I’m putting it down to the shock of seeing Brody’s suicide video really throwing her off her game.

Nicole Kidman in Alexander McQueen. I haven’t been a fan of her choices lately but minus the glazed botoxed-into-oblivion face I think this is a great look. Making her even more statuesque than normal this is so flattering to her tall frame and even though black can be a bit hard on very pale skin, this really works for her.

Rachel Weisz in Louis Vuitton. I really dislike this dress a lot, A LOT. Again, I don’t understand these beautiful women picking dresses that are so unflattering. I think she is lovely but this is a teenager’s gothic prom dress not a British movie star’s dress. If you were going to an event with James Bond as your date I really hope you’d do better than this, though he did wear his shades for most of it, muppet.

Rosie Huntington Whatsit… in Yves Saint Laurent and yes, I am still using the full name because Saint Laurent just sounds so wrong. How can you possible re-brand YSL…but that argument’s for another day. As a model you would really hope that you knew the tricks of the trade, how to lengthen the silhouette etc. This makes her look short and her whole body out of proportion, not helped by the highwayman ruffles or the ankle strap. She should also know better than to risk the Angelina Jolie leg throw.  I also dislike the too basic hair.

Seinna Miller in Erdem. I love Erdem but wow, this is awful though I do have to thank Sienna Miller for continuing to wear clothes that help me confirm her as one of the worst dressed people out there. I’m sure someone would use this for a christening dress or a four year old’s birthday princess dress but for a grown woman with alleged style credentials, if you believe the magazines, this is spectacularly bad.

And finally Tina Fey in L’Wren Scott. I think Tina Fey looked amazing in the dresses she wore during the show but this one isn’t good. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I don’t like lace and this a perfect example of how inexpensive it can look. Interestingly L’Wren Scott is 6′ 4″ and should know how to dress a woman to look long and lean, which this dress certainly does not. It makes her look shorter than necessary and then the heavy shoes double the effect. Mirrors, ladies, MIRRORS….

Source: Zimbio