Spring 2011 Couture: The Recession Is Over and Dior Brings the New Look Back!

Even though it's not the end of a war, as when Dior created the new look, reports do recently say the recession is over. Galliano reacted by ending our own self-imposed austerity and creating full, vivacious looks for the runway. Galliano sent models swishing down in miles of tulle said to be representantive of the work of René Gruau, Christian Dior's original illustrator. Ahhh, yes, Spring is in the air. I can feel it now, in the breeze from the rustle of the layers and layers of floaty chiffon Galliano used on the runways. See a typical example, below:

Christian Dior by John Galliano, photo Style.Com

And Accessories...It's A Cinch:
And the accessory du jour? While many designers dared this season to send models down the runway with nary an accessory in sight (except for shoes, of course), the belt seemed to shift to center stage for those who dared to be different. Waists continue to be accentuated this season, and the belt provides no better way to do this. Definitely a trend I see reflected in RTW. I love the juxtaosition of something considered to be casual worked into couture. Observe below:

Alexis Mabille, Style.Com

Christian Dior, Photo From Style.Com

Bouchra Jarrar, photo Style.Com

Silouette: Lets Get Wasted:

Like previous seasons, emphasis seemed to stay firmly put on the waist. Karl Lagerfeld from Chanel was one of the few designers to diverge from this idea with examples of drop waist dresses reminiscent of the 60's. This style I felt may be suggestion of styles yet to come (after all, how many seasons can one look at look after look of high-waist styles?),and I felt it to be the most refreshing. Surely more than accentuated wasted styles are out there for dresses. Examples of one of Karl's drop-waist dresses is below:

Chanel, photo from Style.Com

And the favorite designer is: Givenchy
The collection from Roberto Tisci for Givenchy literally made me gasp in delight. Frothy whites were puncuation by raver brights, bringing modernity to an otherise staid pallette. Apparently the colors were inspired by dried flowers, which I completely don't see, but hey, the collection was amazing, so who am I to judge? He was one of the only designers to diverge from the normal pallette of pastelles, red, white, and black, and I just loved the route he decided to take.

Givenchy photo from Style.Com

According to Style.com the Givenchy collection was based on Kazuo Ohno, a Japanese dancer, and robots. What an delightful combination of influences! The collection took an unbelievable amount of work, up to 6,000 hourse for one dress, and the workmanship completely paid off:

All Pictures of Givenchy, from Style.com.

Exquisite.

Prints: Smear Campaign
Prints certainly weren't a focus in the shows, but the few I saw seemed to be polka-dots and florals blurred out, fuzzed out, and out of focus. A consistent theme, see some below:

Gaultier, Picture from Style.Com

Elie Saab, picture from Style.Com

Armani Privé, picture from Style.com

Color: What's Black, White, and Red all over?
Why, Spring 2011 Couture of course. What else did you think I was going to say?
The first thing I noticed this season was the shift in color from pale make-up colors and nudes to jewels and primaries. Black has returned (just as I was begining to really, really fall for neutrals, they disapear. C'est la vie.), and red slashes of reds intespresed with virginal whites were prevalant.

See this example from Boucha Jarrar:

Photo from Style.Com

Sure, there were still whispers of the clayed down, drab pastelles of yesteryear, but the shift to primaries was evident. Here is an example of how this was excecuted at Valentino, where they used pastelles to do a slow build to a bright red:

Photos from Style.Com

And not mentioned, but great and I had to share, was the collection from Armani Privé. According to Style.com the inspiration was gemstones, but what I saw was quite an alien effect. After reading a new NPR.com article on the theory of parallel universes I felt sure Armani had visited one before creating this jewel of a collecton. A few photos from Style.com below:




I guess I must be on a Sci-Fi bender because the two collections with Sci-Fi influences (his and Givenchy) inspired me the most. His use of color is completely in line with the shift to primaries I saw repeated over and over. Also interesting was the prevalant use of leggings, here and also at Chanel and Galliano. I thought we would be moving away from this silouette, but I suppose I thought wrong. This is an excellent example of how street fashions trickle up into couture.

Color Trends: Spring 2010

Bringin' Home the Bacon

It looks like painters weren't the only people inspired by the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last season. It looks like the fashion world also took notice of his garish oranges backrounds and flat neutrals. All of the designers who used this palette used it to wonderful effect.

Color Trends from Spring 2009 were right out of a Francis Bacon Painting. Clockwise from top left: Study For Human Body by Francis Bacon, a look from Lanvin, Oscar De La Renta, Carolina Herrerra, all Spring 2010 thanks to Style.com for photos.

Nude As The News

Almost as important as what colors were chosen in each runway show was the lack of color designers presented. This may be an interesting affect of the recession, where in order to get the most wear of your clothes, they need to almost disapear on the skin as to escape to much notice. The best version was Phoebe Philo's for Celine, but of the many other catwalks where this was spotted, from Lanvin to Carlos Miele.

Clockwise from top left: Carlos Miele, Calvin Klein, Celine, Lanvin, all Spring 2010. Thanks to Style.com for photos.

Cold As Ice

Oh my...is it getting cold in here, or is that just me? Because Spring 2010 collection was feeling a little chilly. With lots of stark black and white, and colors iced to the barest hint of color, leaving you feeling cold. Most popular was the softest lavendar, shown by designers like Michael Kors and Versace. Francisco Costa at Calvin Klein and Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy also joined into the fray, introducing their own variations on the trend.

Clockwise from top left: Calvin Klein, Versace, Michael Kors, Givenchy , all Spring 2010. Thanks to Style.com for photos.

True Blues

One of the colors that seemed to show up again and again in every shade and tonality was blue. The first place I noticed it was at Ralph Lauren, whose dust-bowl inspired show had me literally singing the blues. Celine, who otherwise had an almost completely nude palette, took exception to this by inserting a azure dress into her mix. Oscar De La Renta also couldn't resist this ubiquitous hue. He chose a radical shade of teal to complete his collection. And Lanvin also couldn't resist the same hue. With colors trending warm as of late, maybe we're due for a cooling off period?

Designers were definitely feeling blue this season. Clockwise top left: Oscar De La Renta, Celine, Lanvin, Ralph Lauren, all Spring 2010. Thanks to Style.com for photos.

It's Electric

Although ice the ice age prevailed designers couldn't resist injecting random shots of heat into their collections. These shots provided quite a blast too, with shots of bright yellow and pinks which were simply blinding.

Clockwise top left: Badgley Mischka, Lanvin, Oscar De La Renta, Paul Smith, all Spring 2010. Thanks to Style.com for photos.