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This is what I meant by:
All serious designers like Christian Dior and Valentino often have a wistful lightness, with some like Galliano going full-steam.Stephane Rolland, designer for Christian Dior, certainly has this, and in a BIG WAY. The dress above was a showstopper at the Paris Fashion Week. Of course no-one is expected to wear this dress, as no-one is expected to wear Galliano's clothes, although clever stylists can come up with similar, but less outrageous and wearable versions.
I tried to re-style Rolland's dress by reining in the train, and I think it can be a reasonably attractive evening gown.
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Right: Photoshopped to reduce the width of the train
I wrote recently about Vera Wang's red gown for the Arianna Huffington's daughter, which is also a red gown with an exaggerated train. I titled the post: "(Serious) Design Flaws of a Vera Wang Gown: Or, How Vera Wang is a Mediocre Designer". Here is a short excerpt on the "train":
- The "train": For want of a better word, that's what the fabric dragging at the back seems to resemble. But what the dress looks like is a long gown with a piece missing in the front.
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I suppose Wang is trying to be wistful, or romantic. But what young woman would want to wear a dress which looks like drapery? I'm still trying to figure out how Wang entered the hallowed halls of couture designers. Well, I'm partially there. I think it is partly her relentless aggression, and partly some need for "ethnic" designers. Several Asian designers are filling in this slot, and none have impressed me so far.
Below is a comparison of Rolland's dramatic and architectural, and I think humorous, explosion of a gown with Wang's shapeless drapery.
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Right: Vera Wang's dress for Arianna Huffington's daughter
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And here are shoes that Wang is advertizing in this month's Vogue.
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I was reading the magazine in my favorite breakfast place, Fran's, and asked the waitress if she would wear the shoes. Her instinct was to say "yes." I then told her to look closely, and pointed out that:
- the leather looks like cheap plastic
- the extra wedges on the heels look like they were glued on
- the thick black straps add to the cheapness of the whole design
- the heels are just too high to be worn comfortably
"Oh yes," she kept saying. "I don't think it is worthy of a Vogue" I said, as was trying to show her how not to be duped by sub-par quality. I think most women these days have no idea about quality because even trusted sources, like fashion magazines, are throwing ugliness at them.