Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Haute Couture S/S '13 Review: Christian Dior

Many have welcomed Raf Simons as the new 'king of fashion' ever since he took the main job at Christian Dior. However, by trying to establish a new look for the house by repeating himself season after season, he fell flat in my eyes. His minimalistic approach in the collections feels plain, lack-luster and sometimes - ugly. For his second couture show, Simons switched things up a bit by doing a romantic garden-themed collection that got everyone's attention. And while the show as a whole was beautiful, I found the collection disastrous.

What did he try to do?

Raf's plan this season was to present an utterly romantic flower-inspired collection that was supposed to be soft and light, while evoking a certain feel of elegance. He somewhat achieved that with the way the collection was presented - from the beautiful minimalistic white garden to the short wigs and diamond lips, but when looking at the photos all a person sees is stiffness. The shapes were very boxy, some were rather ill-fitting and the fabrics felt cheap and dated. Another problem was the sea of crafty plastic flowers that looked glued to the silk tops and balloon dresses.

What would I change?

The new 3-piece-suit is simply not working, unless he's aiming for 'the Russian mafia' to be Dior's new customers. Cheap looking embellishments have to go. Less color blocking - more harmony. A fresher take on the classic black suit is needed, we've already seen enough of it in every fabric. Burn the shoes, please.
What would I keep?

The hair and makeup were absolutely beautiful, loving the new direction in the beauty department. Very fond of the crystal embellished pieces - expensive and luxurious looking. The tailored dresses and corsets. Some of the gowns towards the end are absolutely breathtaking

Favorite piece?


Don't forget to share your thoughts and ideas by leaving me a comment below!


Photo credit: style.com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, Mario, I agree with you 100%. His first haute couture collection for Dior was amazing, but I do believe that this collection was a total let down; it was basically a cheapened version of the collection previous.

Mario Dodovski said...

Yes, definitely! I wish there was more romance in the clothes instead of just the presentation, the whole collection needed to be lifted to a higher level in order to work. Shame his clothes look so cheap, I expected higher quality than at Sander due to the bigger budget.