And the Best Fashion Week...

Well, here we are at last, into the final part of our tour through the best of the Red Carpet dresses for next year...traditionally Paris is the last and the best Fashion Week...

Elie Saab now shows in Paris...

Paris is where the very idea of twice yearly Fashion Designer Collections started, and this is where you came to see what your little corner dressmaker could copy for you, to wear to all the next seasons Society parties...it’s all so different today, of course, but Paris is still regarded as the Capital of the Fashion World, and long may it continue...quite a few British Designers show in Paris now, instead of London, as it is still thought of as the main place to be...

In fact, there are so many really fine Designers that operate from there that I will just have to split this entry into two parts...

1. VALENTINO

This is dear Valentino’s last RTW Collection, as he is retiring from the Fashion World this year...so if you have always fancied a Valentino in your wardrobe, and can’t afford it, it will have to be vintage from now on..

Of course, his House will continue, with other designers at the helm, just like some of the other main Paris Fashion Houses have done, but it won’t be him...

For this, his very last RTW Collection, he really pulled out all the stops, and gave us a truly beautiful, and desirable selection of wonderful dresses to admire...

He used a particular style of fine pleating, in a large roll, rather like a tubular ruff, around armholes, across bodices and over shoulders, which gave some of the dresses a slightly medieval look, especially when used in conjunction with slashing down one side...

 

Colours, also were in fine abundance – reds, yellows, and blues, and a whole section of pale pink at the beginning and the end of his show...in particular I liked this gorgeous red figure-hugging dress, guaranteed to give you a wiggle when you walk down that red carpet...

Prints too, were shown, in particular this red and white version, on the right, which also appeared in black & white...
This was a large collection with many beautiful evening dresses on show, and a fine collection to end his career with !!

2. CHRISTIAN DIOR

This Collection is, of course, secretly John Galliano’s commercial work, and has been for the last ten years, and is what finances his own Couture Collections, I should think...

The House of Christian Dior celebrated its 60^th Birthday this year, ( sixty whole years since the New Look burst upon the scene and took the Western World by storm...) and they had a huge party to celebrate earlier this year !!

For the Spring / Summer Collections 2008, John Galliano re-visited his favourite era, the Thirties, and gave us a collection full of romantic 30s glamour, slinky bias-cut satin dresses, with animal prints in abundance, and beautiful 30s style hair and make-up to complete the Look...

Huge voluminous jackets and wraps over beautiful graceful evening dresses were the order of the day, and the occasional top hat and tails outfit added to the 30s effect...this was the Marlene Dietrich / Greta Garbo Look, and a hefty nod to the current trend for retro 70s glamour, Biba and all that, which stemmed from the 30s look in it’s own right...

 

Fashion goes around and comes around, doesn’t it...

3. ALEXANDER McQUEEN

Alexander produced a collection that was a tribute to the person who discovered him when he was a student, the famously eccentric lover of hats, Isabella Blow, who died earlier this year ...

Now, Isabella, apparently, paved the way for him to work in a Couture house when he left college, and loyally wore his clothes regularly, along with Philip Treacy’s wonderful hats...therefore, it is only right and proper, and quite touching that he created a collection that took its inspiration from all his own past collections, in memory of her...a Greatest Hits Collection, if you like !!
I have to admit to really disliking a lot of this collection, however, he did produce a wonderful little mini-collection of airy-fairy rainbow-coloured, bird and butterfly- wing printed floaty dresses for the Red carpet mavens amongst us...

Beautiful wafty dresses that reminded me of all those wonderful picture plates by Arthur Rackham, and the other children’s book illustrator, who painted all the little fairies, whose name escapes me at the moment !! The one on the right has a butterfly head forming the bodice...

This bright pink dress with black-silhouetted butterfly flight of fancy, has already appeared in Public, courtesy of Nicole Kidman, who wore it at the 41^st Country Music Awards, where she accompanied her husband Keith Urban...

4. HERMES This Collection was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, and, it has to be said, carried a lot more immediate appeal than his own Demented Pirate Collection for next Spring...I would say it was a lot more wearable, but then, I reckon the same holds true for Jean Paul here, as for John Galliano at Dior...the Collections designed for the big name House provides the funds for their own flights of fancy...
   
   In other words, because they are in gainful employment, providing their Couture House with a nicely honed RTW Collection that is commercial and saleable, they can afford to spend the money to put on the Show that they really want to do !!

This Collection, inspired by the Indian sub-continent, was both saleable and wearable, and extremely appealing if, like me, you are partial to exotic, but graceful, clothing in jewel-like colours...and what a beautiful Collection it was too...

Gorgeous Nehru jackets over wrap dresses, jodhpurs and leggings, with the models own hair rolled up into a top knot that resembled a turban..

Jewel-coloured, silver-edged sari-like evening wrap dresses, and variations on the shalwar kameez, the ubiquitous tunic and trousers outfit worn all over Pakistan...this was the perfect showcase for Hermes leather goods, because every model sported a Hermes bag to either match the outfit or contrast to it, to great effect... and there were belts wrapped around turbans, bangles worn on the upper arm, and chunky chain necklaces, bringing to mind the classic Hermes scarf print of riding brassware...

Beautiful, beautiful stuff !!!

 

5. MARTIN GRANT

Martin Grant is not a name I am familiar with, I’m ashamed to admit, however, I have a feeling that we will all become very familiar with this talented designer in the future...
He is from Australia, and has been in Paris since he opened his workshop in the Marais district, for private customers only...then he decided that he ought to go Public with his first RTW Collection for the Autumn 2003 Season, and since then, has been garnering rave reviews for his impeccable tailoring skills, and his Couture-like attention to finish !! These are very ladylike clothes for the well-bred lady wannabes amongst us..

This time, he didn’t have many Red carpet dresses in his Collection, but what he did have were absolutely lovely...

Elegant and sophisticated in a very sixties sense, with very self-assuredly confident cutting skills, and definitely contenders for Red Carpet candidacy !! It's not often that I include a trouser suit, but I thought this one was gorgeous...
I shall make sure that he is looked at again, in the coming seasons...

This then is Part 1 of my look at the Paris fashion Week Shows for Spring / Summer 2008...

Part 2 will be arriving shortly, with all the rest...Paris is such a favourite place to operate from, that I have to split the entry...so many brilliant Designers show there...