Couture Cometh

By Lauren Milligan

Vogue.com 26 January 2010

“CHRISTIAN DIOR took centre stage at couture week yesterday, with a collection of dresses designed to make you sigh. Never content to languish in familiar sartorial surroundings, Galliano took his Dior girls to the horses this season with a dressage-inspired offering of jackets and skirts followed by an array of lace and satin, which as last season boasted just a hint of 1947's New Look.

GIORGIO ARMANI also showed his Privé collection yesterday, offering his usual brand of red carpet elegance bathed in sparkling moonlight. The lunar motif recurred throughout the show - in the palette, the jewellery and the oversized set - and shapes were sharp and streamlined.






JOSEPHUS THIMISTER’S Bloodshed And Opulence collection was, as the title suggests, more than just pretty dresses. Inspired by Russian military uniforms - and moved by society's greatest concerns - the collection challenged the very notion of couture itself in a palette of army green, shimmering red and bloodstained white.




ALEXIS MABILLE began his show in a schizophrenic colour palette, with each model half clad in sombre black and half in bright colour pop. The colour split soon moved in to panels - still in a palette of black, scarlet and fuchsia - and introduced more colour by way of electric blue and pineapple yellow later. High demure necklines and a scarcity of Mabille's signature bows made for a grown-up collection….”





Excited, excited, excited ★

[Images: Courtorture]

Sweet like candy

With the noughties far behind us (well, a week or two), we are now well in 2010. And as anyone who has been reading Elle, Vogue and the like recently, it's the year of soft, buttery shades and delicious, ice-cream hues… Say goodbye to black, the pastel shade is back!

The ever-classic romantics Valentino, Chloe and Dior have championed these girlicious tones for ions, and continue to do this season - with even more designers following suit. And it’s not just the colour that’s going all Marie Antoinette on us. Textures are oh-so-dreamy too. Ruffles, pleats, satins and the floatiest flyaway fabrics designed to woo and romance are the spring/summer ready to wear of choice. There’s Louise Goldin’s fluttery, Japanese fan-inspired pale yellow designs, (she’s got a spiked and studded footwear collection For Topshop in stores next month by the way – look out!), Burberry Prorsum’s multi-chiffon layers in soft azure and mint, and Michael Kors’ sheeny, satin separates in the softest lilac tones making us go all weak at the knees and dreaming of days lying idly by the pool.

However, these watercolour shades won't suit all of us. I, for one, would look distinctively sallow in a baby pink or pale yellow frock. More ‘verging on death’ than ‘angelic and beautiful’ – until I get a tan that is! So I will leave it up to Mary-Kate and Sienna to wear this look for me. The ladies doth wear their baby shades so well.

[The fashion spot, Olsen's anoymous, Vogue.co.uk, InStyle.uk, Elle.com]