…………..Last night I was in the mood for some HOT ITALLIAN SAUSAGE…..with red, orange and yellow PEPPERS cooked in olive oil, red balsamic vinegar….and some pepper….With that some ROASTED POTATOES……..YUM…YUM…YUM!
……………….I was a fan of MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI when she and PIERPAOLO PICCIOLI designed VALENTINO together……Of course you never know when a collection is designed by a team who actually designed what! Who’s influence was greater or was it an equal collaboration…..I always assumed the more feminine clothes were designed by Maria…..I think I may have been wrong. When they split and Maria went on to Dior and Pierpaolo remained at Valentino it soon became obvious that he was responsible for the feminine clothes that were a Valentino signature…….From her first collection at Dior I was disappointed, and I have been disappointed ever since…..It’s not that I don’t think she’s a talent, because compared to many so called designers today….she’s a genius. I guess I always liked Pierpaolo’s ESTHETIC more……Technically she is very good, but I always find something lacking in her collections…..SPIRIT and FANTASY, and always a little dour…….When Donna and I co-designed the Anne Klein collection some would always try to guess who designed what……50% of the time they were wrong!……ALL that said…..I think this was one of Maria Grazia’s better collections……….I think her more masculine clothes out shown the feminine clothes. She just seems to have a better understanding of masculine clothes…….I find her feminine clothing is a little CLICHE…….Her dependence on lots of ruffles….and SHEER SHEER fabrics made many of the clothes look more suitable for a BORDELLO than a red carpet….but that’s just MHO…..As I said, for me it was one of her better collections…..The production was outstanding….the staging and the set was wonderful, but the models were disturbingly ROBOTIC….It all must have cost a pretty penny!…..Thank goodness the bags looked great!
………………..There were definitely TWO SIDES TO THE COIN on this collection, and they couldn’t have looked more different…..almost as if they were designed by two designers…..The MASCULINE clothes were by far the stronger part of the collection. It was well tailored….well made and in beautiful fabrics……..However, the evening segment of the collection. was a different story….I think Maria Grazia relied TOO TOO much on sheer fabrics and see through clothing……Who is going to wear the???… Jeff Bezos girlfriend????or Kanye West’s girlfriend???…Madonna or her daughter….or one of the Kardashians?……..Ok, that’s four or five , but I don’t see the DIOR customer clamoring for these pieces….or being paraded down ant red carpet….unless the wearer wanted to shock!……What was good was GOOD, and what was bad [evening] was generally….IMHO…..JUST TOO SHEER!
……………I think the most successful clothes presented in the DIOR collection were the more MASCULINE pieces that looked inspired by menswear….Some of the pieces even had HISTORICAL references, as many of the jackets, weskits and leathers did….Even the KNICKERS, and “MUSKETEER”…balloon pants, photo at lower right had references to a time gone by. The ruffle blouses could be called the feminine touch to the menswear…..HOWEVER…..it was men who wore ruffle blouses under jackets centuries ago…..as the blouses shown here…..One of my favorite looks of the collection was the RED SUEDO RIDING JACKET with the black knickers…the white cotton ruffle shirt and the tan weskit….As I recall it may have been the ONLY RED piece in the show…….The COLORS were very restricted mainly to……BLACK….TAN….TAUPE…..GREY…..a deep dark NAVY….and WHITE…primarily as an accent in blouses and shirts….There were some ethereal long white ruffle dresses in sheer fabrics. Continuing with the men’s theme….there were some wonderful trench coats and jackets in tan, navy, black and a touch of olive…..The prints were very subdued as were the patterns used for clothing…..I guess I would say that the collection was……SUBDUED…….color wise…….again……very masculine.
……………..The DETAILS on clothing can make all the difference….The placement of lace on a dress as the upper left photo, sculpts the body giving the illusion of curves…..The layering of pleats in an unusual way as the photo at the lower right, can create a wonderful new way of showing a pleated skirt. The layering of a zip front weskit under jackets and coats gives the same feeling as a corset but worn on the outside of the body…..creating shape…..Details are everything….even on the simplest garments….the simplicity is a detail!……With some collections it’s all about COLOR and SHAPE……as Saint Laurent…..With DIOR it’s all about the DETAILS….the MASCULINE clothes, and the very MUTED COLOR SCHEME.