For a brief period in time, twice a year in Paris, the cognoscenti of fashion convene for the HAUTE COUTURE…the real couture, the made to measure variety that starts in the mid 5 figures and elevates stratospherically from there. Traditionally, this was the inspiration for the ready to wear collections which will follow in its heels in about 2 weeks’ time. Times have changed and the calendars no longer allow for the influence unless a particular house also does ready to wear. Nevertheless, this is the time that these brands show off what they are made of …especially with the ateliers that are available to them.
I am unashamedly a fan of Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel as well. I am, however, not blindly loyal nor a fawning critic. I was less than ecstatic about his passage to India a few weeks ago and I am not exactly bowled over by what I have seen in this collection.
Okay, so instead of fixing his eye on India, Karl fixed his eye on the color blue which is fine and still not overly exciting despite being shown in the “interior” of an airplane. The clothes are odd, it is the only word I can come up with to describe them. They are both jeune fille and jolie madame at different times; what they are not is exciting.
The collection is dress centric with a heavy concentration of “portrait type necklines” and a very heavy dose of dropped waists. The latter can be very flattering; the former is almost always flattering. The dropped waits are fine but when you purposely draw attention to the hip line, by adding pockets, embellishments or even ruffles, things can get out of hand very quickly. That bell sleeve, which I find very Balenciaga rather than Chanel, is beautifully executed in any number of ways as is the ubiquitous portrait neck.
For me, there are some very odd dresses in both shape and proportion, one that reminded me of some sort of metallic armor while others just seemed to be a canvass to show off the amazing capabilities of the Chanel ateliers. Lagerfeld is not beyond turning out a clunker every now and then and while I cannot say, with conviction, that this is one of them, I can say that the collection is erratic and somewhat strange.
http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/S2012CTR-CHANEL/#sl...
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