The twice yearly Parisian Haute Couture has passed , and the cognoscenti of fashion who gathered for the HAUTE COUTURE…the real couture, the made to measure variety , have departed, that is unless you are buying for Spring 2012. Traditionally, these collections were the inspiration for the ready to wear collections which will follow in its heels in about 2 weeks’ time. This season has brought quite a few new names to the front. Considering that not long ago, the headlines were “Haute Couture is Dead.” Apparently this is not the case, as there are new names on the marquee and they are demanding attention in this rarefied world.
He is not the most famous of haute couturiers let alone designers in general. What Alexis Mabille is, is the one to keep your eye on for the future. I was first attracted to his clothes a few seasons ago and continually watch and wait for “that moment.” The couture collections seem to have a great polish to them and yes it is apparent that he does not approach the haute couture like his colleagues. This season he may have had a little company with Jean Paul Gaultier who chose to do an ode to Amy Winehouse, ill-timed or not, while Mr. Mabille decided to devote his collection to models and movie sirens of the 40’s and 50’s.
While the colored faces of his models seemed to match the dresses, the affect did nothing to enhance the clothes as in fact it was distracting. He didn’t play by the usual rules of couture and keep things to an easily understandable palette but then again that might have been said about Christian Lacroix and YSL as well. The result was a lively presentation of some beautiful dresses that are wearable, as that is one of the tenets he likes to adhere to each season. If he was searching for drama, he needed to put the drama in the clothes not the make-up and the floral head pieces. His images seemed to be of Penn and Avedon as many of the models seemed to be a photo come to life which is great but again, gimmicks and couture are not a good match.
This being said, I feel there is great potential here and once his initial burst of youthful enthusiasm subsides, he will present a first rate collection of exquisite clothes
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