Paris Haute Couture | Atelier VERSACE Spring 2016 Couture

Glorification of every curve of a woman’s body through clothing if there’s one house that owns that idea, it’s Versace. Under Donatella Versace’s reign, the label has recently taken a feminist slant, angling away from the notion of woman as rock-star arm candy and nightclub predator. Versace’s Fall ready-to-wear was a refreshing tour de force in glam urban militaria, but how to follow that in couture? The Rio Olympics are coming up in August, so maybe that’s what sent Donatella in the direction of female power through athleticism the body used to achieve personal goals that aren’t to do with man-catching sexuality. Well, that’s what the soundtrack pointed us toward, anyway: a narrative by Violet, speaking out about “feminine strength to overcome obstacles.”

Nonetheless, this Versace Altelier collection was a full-on old-school display of cutaway, plunge, curve, slash, and skin display. After an opener of optic white tailoring and taut ski pants, it was on with the real business: feats of dressmaking engineering involving asymmetrical patchworked geometries, suspension by Swarovski ropes and twisted straps, embroidered and printed ergonomic patterns, skewed sequined checkerboards and poured silicone grills. In her couture collection, Donatella is determined to add new science to traditional techniques, and she noted that the work in this show was some of the most time-consuming she’s ever devised. Still, labor and complexity don’t always sell a dress. After all the body-con gowns and fitted minidresses, it was the moment when she broke free of the sporty theme with a few light, sheer dance-dress silhouettes with full, airy skirts that looked best.

Enjoy the Atelier VERSACE Spring 016 Haute Couture runway show at the end of this post! LoL, Andrea 
 

  Donatella Versace

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories 

Photo Credit/Source: The House of VERSACE

Photos by Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.com

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'Paris Haute Couture | CHANEL Spring 2016 Couture'

A ray of sunlight pierces the Parisian skies on a cloudy January 26th, and illuminates the dome of the Grand Palais. Like a reminder of spring in the middle of winter, it signals the start of Karl Lagerfeld’s Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2016 collection show. In an exaltingly bucolic set, a wooden house with closed shutters blends in with the vegetation. The door opens to reveal the first silhouettes. One by one, seeming to slow their pace to better take advantage of the moment, the models wander through this Eden.

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Paris Haute Couture | DIOR Spring 2016 Couture

Everything was as usual at the Christian Dior Haute Couture show: the same venue, the sense of occasion that this storied house of fashion commands. The only difference, as the world well knows, is that it is currently operating without a creative director. Instead, it was a young team, which looked to be in their 20s and 30s, that ran out to take their bows at the end of the show. Collectives are very à la mode in Paris now, but it’s fair to say that six months ago, this crew never imagined they’d be out front, taking the credit for a grand show in a vast mirrored marquee in the gardens of the Musée Rodin. Nor did Dior’s management, which is now dealing with the interim between the surprise resignations of Raf Simons and Pieter Mulier, who was the creative director’s full-time number two in-house.

A Dior press representative names Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux as the heads of studio who stepped up to fill the void. They were smiling as they made a brief appearance before running off, and they deserved to feel happy with the job they’d done primarily of continuing the feeling that Dior has to belong to a younger, modern world. Simons began that mission, of course. In the hands of a more junior group, it became softer, more casual than their former boss’s theoretical approach a sensibility patchworked through a visual prism belonging to people who’ve grown up with Prada, Marni, Céline, and Marc Jacobs.

That’s not to say that they disrespected Dior house codes. While dispensing with corseted structure, they honored waist emphasis with fit-and-flare silhouettes, short sparkly dresses, and a couple of plain bell-shaped evening midis with asymmetric necklines fastened with bows in the back. The white “Bar” jacket, with narrow sleeves, flounced cuffs, and a sprinkling of jeweled lilies of the valley, worn over a black pencil skirt, slit at one side and fanning out as the model walked, read as the nearest thing to “couture” this collection attained.

What it skipped was a sense of grandeur or build-up. There was no ball gown finale to answer the hanging question as to what Jennifer Lawrence might wear to the Academy Awards though that’s usually arranged as a bespoke off-runway matter anyway. The bigger question is who will be brought in to take over the direction of this house. There is talent in the ranks of Dior, and it may be that, long-term, this baptism of fire will produce stars. Shorter term, the fashion world waits to find out who will become Dior’s next visionary leader.

Discover the entire DIOR F/W 2016/17 Haute Couture show at the end of this post & my Instagram-story direct from the show from this starting-point on @AndreaJankeOfficial - enjoy!

For all DIOR-Lovers follow my special DIOR-collection on Google+ 

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LoL, Andrea 
 

 The heads of the DIOR studio: Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: The House of DIOR

Photos by Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.tv

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'DIOR Fall/Winter 2016/17 RTW'

The highly graphic motif inspired several looks in the Dior ready-to-wear Autumn/Winter 2016/2017 show, which took place in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre Friday, 5th March, 2016. It could be found enlarged and transposed into pink and bordeaux on a silk jacquard coatdress. It also appeared on an orange and gray sweater, contrasting with the twinkling embroidered flowers on the skirt.

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