WITH A soundtrack of thunder and pounding hooves, John Galliano drove home the twin themes of his winter collection for Dior; English hunting attire and 18th century libertines.
This was Galliano in full charge doing what he does best: shapely, sexy tailoring and dreamy delicate dresses.
The thrill of the chase lay in the clothes, the tweed jodhpurs worn with ruffled blouses or chestnut jackets, the leather cavalry coats hiding fragile shirtdresses of mousseline and lace.
The sexuality of equestrian dress has perennial fashion appeal, but Galliano gave it extra thrust and flamboyance counterpointing taut windowpane check jackets or off the shoulder cable knits with flirty little tiered skirts. The evening wear inspired by Delacroix with flyaway dresses in dusty pastels shot with silver and embroidery was unashamedly feminine and romantic.
The models’ studied insouciance, tousled hair and thigh-high boots did the rest. You hardly noticed the slouchy bags. In short, a winning collection.
Roland Mouret, he of the famous Galaxy and Moon dresses, now backed by Pop Idol entrepreneur Simon Fuller, streamed his RM collection live yesterday from a gym used for Ségolène Royal rallies in the 11th arrondisement. A master draper, as his website brilliantly illustrates, who creates from one piece of material, standout pieces were hooded, draped dresses in magenta silk or in chocolate wool crepe. In fact, hoods and cowls were recurring leitmotifs of the entire collection used on neat pebble jacquard cardigans or on coats with bold waterfall collars. The look was sporty and sophisticated. Carla Bruni is said to be his latest fan.
The boundaries of fabrication are always pushed at Issey Miyake, where for this collection designer Dai Fujiwara engaged the co-operation of US mathematician William Thurston for experiments with 3D clothing design. The result was a tour de force of colourful knits, curved tailoring, circular cutting and playful, if contrived, experiments with Harris tweed and futuristic fabrics like twisted lamé.
One breezy black organdie coat was layered with laser-cut pieces of the same fabric to striking effect. Accessories like wire cuffs, red perspex glasses, spatter print tights and iridescent gloves were adventurous too and bound to be copied.
