haute-est couture.
galliano for dior, s/s 2010 couture
john galliano recently did what i had been waiting for: swoop in to paris and save fashion. i must admit, for all the fascinating, digital, collaborative, and democratic developments in the industry this past decade, true fashion – the real stuff of dreams – had become somewhat lost in the shuffle. please do not misunderstand, i applaud the various ways in which fashion has become accessible to a wider audience; were it not for the internet, i wouldn’t have a fraction of the information i’m privy to today.
however, in the past few months, the number of ‘celebrity collaborations’ have come to make me cranky. lohan for ungaro? sjp for halston? klum for the ‘with child?’ not to leave out all of the various actress-launched fragrances – as if one can wake up one morning and create a scent out of thin air – the public has no idea how complicated a process it is to truly inspire and produce a perfume.
really?
finally, and somewhat understandably, fashion magazines, once “shining beacons of hope” [in the words of nigel from the devil wears prada] have turned to features on smart shopping and good deals. these were once publications filled with art, not lucky magazine.
so when, at the christian dior haute couture show in paris, galliano showed a collection that was 100% whimsy and fantasy, i was overjoyed. this is art. this is escape. the show was like a wonderful movie or book that transports the audience to another time and place. as suzy menkes writes,”fashion needs emotion to both seduce and inspire and mr galliano delivers that with passion.”
more from dior s/s 2010
while personal style, street fashion, and bloggers certainly have their place in the quotidian portion of fashion, like any art form, there must also be the higher order, exalted part of it. this is true in regards to any art, whether it be literature, music, or sculpture. there must be a place for real craftmanship and experimentation to exist, and the sense that whatever the creation is, it is utterly unnattainable, except in one’s dreams.
