concept with a capital c

"Grey Gardens" at John Galliano
"Pirates of the Caribbean" at Jean Paul Gaultier
Marcel Marceau, Pierrot, and something about violins at Viktor & Rolf

Being referential is one thing but clobbering us over the head with inanely tired and irrelevant references is maddening and plain dumb. Is Jean Paul Gaultier receiving backing from Jerry Bruckheimer in effort to test out new forms of product placement? After his triumphant and marathon anniversary couture show this summer, is John Galliano all dried up of ideas? And there are too many questions for Viktor & Rolf and their conscious effort to present more wearable clothes that actually looked amateur and unflattering. Presenting fresh ideas is a challenge for any artist, but it's that journey to continuously reveal something new and exciting that makes the end product compelling and resonate. Instead some designers choose to force feed us obvious ideas and concepts that make you feel like they're shouting with a large bullhorn that they too are in on the cult genius of Little Edie Beale. Who cares? Reign on in the Big Idea and say something worthwhile.

balenciaga

The expectation must be quite difficult to surpass for Nicolas Ghesquiere. Every season his design philosophy of futurism meets old school Balenciaga couture technology but chewed up and spit out in a modern, visionary, and directional way continues to not only impress and intrigue but keeps our expectations high, if not continuously higher. Balenciaga is typically the show that will be extremely relevant when it comes to trends for the season and what did Ghesquiere have in store this season? Flower, flowers, and more flowers. Floral prints might be too literal of a source of inspiration for spring but it was refreshing and very Balenciaga in its theme of a time that has yet to exist. However, the flowers were able to breathe romanticism and nostalgia into that concept and gave it a particular weight. History is a significant influence on Ghesquiere whether it be where fashion will be or where it has already been and once again managed to incorporate that into his outlook for spring 2008.

Ghesquiere is reliable for his unwavering eye and curious design propositions. Cohesion is something Ghesquiere understands very well and this show was no exception. The hems were blunt and to the point and the curved lines and wild shoulders of the mini-suits were hard and ultra-defined. The hard edge of the construction conjured up imagery of a knight's grand armor, but it was softened with an explosion of optimistic floral prints. There was a hint of equally contained but unrestrained sensuality with a concentration on lace up and corset inspired details. Ghesquiere pushed all of these ideas forward by using unusual looking fabrics and stiff gathering, folding, cocoon volumes and material pressed against each other so hard a bullet couldn't penetrate it. Deriving inspiration from the Balenciaga archives and car design, this was a precise and tough look but oddly ladylike and pure in its construction. Essentially, a Balenciaga woman is strong, empowered, and in step with the contemporary world. She will step over you in her shameless gladiator sandal.

Do we wish there was more range and wearability in this collection? If you're looking something to wear here you may want to switch DNA with Natalia Vodianova because bold shapes and ideas like this are not for your average woman, nor is it supposed to be. Peak into the future and you'll find a woman wearing something reminiscent of Ghesquiere's pretty and vigorous rumination for next season.


A little bit of catch up:
Gold Digger on:
Paul Smith
Julien Macdonald

And presently:
Bitch, Please on:
Jean Paul Gaultier
Vivienne Westwood
Dior

maison martin margiela

Marc Jacobs's spring boudoir expose was accused for being too literal of a reference from one of his heroes, Martin Margiela. Well, looking at his spring collection that criticism isn't too far off. The deconstruction of traditional ideas, concentration on fit and the body, and posing modern questions about what it means to be a woman, sexy, or all of the above are as present in this collection as they were in what will surely be one of Jacobs's most infamous collections. However, Jacobs seemed more tongue and cheek and romantic where as Margiela for spring is a little harder and severe. Opening a show with a model blindfolded and covered in a nude tube top means you're up to something. What is that something? Bondage and fragmentation, baby.

Theorists and critics have long debated the issue of female fragmentation in art (that is framing the female body in a violent, choppy, male-gaze sort of way), but has that been confronted in fashion. Clothes are who we are and what we are and when they reveal or shield certain body parts there is some form of picking apart the female form. It's interesting to think of it in a contemporary way with the onslaught of train wreck pop stars and the like who are content with leaping out of an expensive sports car pantiless or allowing an occasional nipple slide out of a flimsy top. The vagina and breasts are certainly an area of interest and repulsion in mainstream media, but hands, eyes, lips, legs, feet equally tantalize us in the most fetishistic ways imaginable. Margiela's eye was unrelenting in its sensual covering up or revealing of body parts. His decision to conceal the model's eyes evoked a feeling of S&M and bondage but could it also suggest censorship? Bare the nude torso wherein we forget about the eyes? Wrists were cuffed in black and material clung to the body to divide it up in the most erotic and intelligent ways. The diabolic combination of nude and black has never seemed so poignant than in this collection. Forget color, we're talking about the body here. What an interesting antidote to New York and Milan's inward definition of body conscious where what is underneath the clothes is more important than what is on the body. Margiela didn't aim to victimize his women and did so by giving them Byrne-esque shoulders that emphasized a woman's irrepressible power even when exploited for their body parts. Imagine a naughty Katherine Hepburn and you have the idea. Evening pieces with beading over the black jersey made the women appear as if they were skinny dipping in the Seine late at night. What a great way to begin Paris.

the hipster handbook

Some Random Dude, Cory Kennedy, Kanye West, Jeremy Scott, and Agyness Deyn at Jeremy Scott's After Party during Paris Fashion Week

Naturally, The Cobrasnake caught this gem of a moment that looks like that moment when you and all of your friends are posing for a possible MySpace or Facebook default pic. Celebrities are just like us in a myriad of ways.

the graduate

Look who has a blog and tends to write about fashion week...

Never one to resist self-aggrandizing, I must say in his defense that it is at least mildly interesting to read what it must like to be at the shows firsthand and at the same time balance that with your own quirky interests in other posts.

versace

I'll let the clothes and the way the women move in them to speak for themselves on this collection. Those are clothes made for sexy motherfuckers.

prada

Love it or hate it, for the past few season Miuccia Prada continues to tackle big themes in what results in presentations that are singular in their voice but abstruse in their aesthetic choices. Last spring it was a 40s pin-up and for fall this year it was hombre dyed burlap sacks and drab colors. There were pieces here and there that were strong in each collection but as a cohesive whole they don't appeal to a mass audience, which is interesting because Prada is a major global brand. Is Prada too prescient for this world or is she simply exposing the absurdity of what it is pretty, flattering, and expected from fashion intended for the masses? Whatever it is, one thing that you can't take away from Prada is her powerful conviction and thinking woman's attitude. There's always a curiosity in her clothes and it spoke once again for spring 2008. Turning to Art Nouveau, London in the late 60s and early 70s, and all things curvilinear and in bloom for inspiration, Prada concocted a show that was brimming with ideas and concepts about what it means to be a smart, powerful, and modern woman, much like herself. The full skirts and gingham prints called to mind a more traditional woman but her coyness is equally sexy in clingy body suits and the flash of skin on the neckline that seemed more revealing than what her Milanese contemporaries blurted out on the runway (See: DSquared). The clash of prints and colors that don't presumably go together creates a graphic and absurd take on our age-old and arbitrary ideas about color matching. The models eyes were rimmed with a sooty and extreme smoky eye look that was another traditional idea of what sexy is but it had a great tension when you looked at the kooky chiffon dresses that were decorated with fairies and nymphs, implying another friction between something more natural as opposed to something so manufactured and established by man. It all seemed a bit fantastical but similar to the Marc Jacobs show, you feel like you're in the mind of Prada and with a collection like this, it's a mind that is attuned to exploration and innovation. This show was a bold proposition on traditionalism, but as she has shown from time and time again, maybe that's Prada not biting the hand that feeds her but offering another extension of traditions and values.

the suit

Have you ever wondered how it must feel to wear a Thom Browne suit? I've often wondered if $4,000 justifies what is essentially a suit perfect for Easter Sundays in elementary school that only ever typically look good on Browne himself. Thankfully those ever so witty and pithy people at Esquire pondered the same question I had. A contributing writer, David Katz, got two Browne suits tailored by the designer himself and followed his specific instructions on how to wear a Thom Browne suit. It's worth a read because in a way it makes this new form of luxury come across as inherently separatist and absurd and yet completely seductive at the same time. Such is the price one pays for a $4,000 suit.


Click here to read.

alberta ferretti

Attention: Vera Wang, this is how you do an appealing and contemporary take on Greco-Roman dressing. It's interesting to look at Wang's Yamamoto-esque take on goddess gowns where once again cocoon shapes and odd draping devour the model and leave you wondering what and why satin cargo shorts factored into the picture. Alberta Ferretti's approach was a little more literal, but the results were more convincing in their ethereal and weightless execution. The more overtly feminine and soft vision doesn't suggest the Ferretti woman is a shrinking violet but an urbane gladiator who at once pitted against the frustrations and complications of the contemporary world but exudes a polished glamor. Something a lot feminine but a little masculine, I guess you could say. The toga draping punctuated with jeweled accents was romantic but with an edge and the color scheme of cucumber and cream with shots of tomato red and goldenrod were unlike the wan neutral and gleaming bold colors that have permeated shows for spring. The power suit as a contrast to the ultra-feminine cocktail dresses was a standout and the pleated gown that looked as if it had been dipped in red wine was stunning in its no frills and adornment free beauty. I suggest Ms. Ferretti give Mrs. Clinton (the modern woman everyone has their eye on at the moment) a call and drum up this kind of wardrobe for what could be her time to lead in the mess and murk.

dsquared

Boobs, butts, Rihanna. Blah, blah, blah. I always get the sense that Dean and Dan Cain's design aesthetic for DSquared are more filled more with fantasy, but not the fantasy that is rooted or is a response to a reality but more of a wishful, almost childlike fantasy that purports them as gleaming celebrity Barbie dolls. What a dull point of view and it shows, especially in this ridiculous collection that was inspired by the feeling one gets when you have car trouble. Naturally in this fretful circumstance you would be wearing a rhinestone encrusted sheer caftan and dresses short enough that Britney's nether regions would get along with swimmingly. It all looks clunky and cheap. Does that bathing suit really need all of that hardware? Is this what sexy is? Sex, or looking sexy, always comes across as cartoony and overly cheeky in their clothes. It also reminds me of all the tawdry street fashion I saw in Italy last summer. Imagine lots of treated denim in odd cuts and lengths, too tight tops, and uncomfortable exposed flesh. Perhaps if they ever focused on ideas that aren't so empty and non-directional for fashion their fervent passion for one note presentations involving pop stars and tramps would be a little grounded in something desirable and attainable.