Christian Dior: Too Many Clothes, Not Enough Models
Written by: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
Click on image to see bigger photo.
Paris, Jul 7, 2001/ FWD/ --- There were some beautiful clothes in Saturday's Christian Dior haute couture show
in Paris, an amusing amount of front row antics and plenty of witty, commercial ideas from couturier John Galliano.
But as fashion moments go, it was all a bit of a confusing maelstrom.
Practically every outfit in the over-the-top collection had some beautiful element, a superbly
cut sequined tunic with ravishing embroidery, a devilishly cut brown leather jacket worn with
embossed green silk trousers or some fantastic, padded puff coats on which embroidery and
logos fought for supremacy.
But spotting the treasures was always a mite difficult given Galliano's insistence on layering
most of his ensembles.
Take the opening outfit: a transparent lace dress worn over pinstripe knickerbockers with a
Eisenhower woolen jacket, topped by Moorish silk scarf wrapped around the model's head.
The collection, accompanied by some wonderful music courtesy of a 20-piece string section,
began somewhere near the Atlas Mountains before drifting over to Rajasthan by way of the
Himalayas.
This fashion caravanserai clearly amused the Dior front-row, where sat the tiny figure of
Si Newhouse, chairman of Conde Nast, fashion's most important publisher of glossy monthlies.
Sandwiched between his top editor, Vogue's equally diminutive Anna Wintour, and Dior's
president Sidney Toledano, Newhouse enjoyed himself like a child with his first railway set,
clapping with glee and pointing to outfits with a novice's delight.
Across from LVMH luxury czar Bernard Arnault and his wife Helene sat a plethora of actresses
including Rosanna Arquette and Beatrice Dalle, whose late arrival earned the ire of Madame
Arnault.
Saturday's show was way too much, yet riveting nonetheless, in that tres-Galliano way.
His outlandishly bright hand-painted, multi-pleat silk chiffon dresses had the fashion
stylists salivating.
Galliano's finale was pretty spectacular, with eight padded coats in an amazing kaleidoscope
of Asian prints worn with everything from an asymmetric kimono or embroidered fur pants to
patchwork pants and tie-dye jackets.
Despite its all-over-the-place couture, Dior's retail locomotive looks well fueled to keep
up the company's impressive recent performance - sales at Christian Dior Couture, which
includes everything except the perfume business, grew a whopping 35% last year.
But one can't help regreting no one at Dior can ever make John see that
the same number of clothes should be worn by twice the number of models.
To his credit, Galliano is not only one of fashion's most inventive talents, he's also a
designer who keeps his eye on the bottom-line.
And there were plenty of ideas in this show that will be distilled into commercial
coin in Dior's ready-to-wear and cruise collections.
To whit, the CD logo with a smile underneath, which is sure to be a hit when it appear on tops
and accessories, or a wonderful bondage style top, with four straps
meeting in the back in a leather CD.
With scores of gals in Paris already donning J'Adore Dior T-shirts, John
sent out the Dior All Stars, sticking this on immense, padded frock coats.
In recent collections Galliano has borrowed from bag ladies to trailer trash gals for
inspiration, and those ideas have been picked up and copied elsewhere.
However it is a revealing mark of Galliano's influence on fashion when the czarina of luxury,
the beautiful and ever-elegant Helene Arnault, turns up at a Paris couture show attired in
one of John's trailer-trash denim outfits, looking like a contestant from an episode of
Jerry Springer.
Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano
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