Dots, dots, dots… they at every major runway and lookbook for SS14 and Pre-Fall’14. The famous polka dots appear to be small, bigger, much bigger and again even tinier (making it super cute and fragile on the body!). And they don’t need to be printed- see Dior haute couture were we see some dotty laser cut. Or- if you are not a print fan- then make your outfit fun and crazy by mixing black with dotty gloves and bag… just like styled at Lanvin. So, into which DOT are you then?
Schiaparelli
HC: Feeling Couture AW13
The Haute Couture week started for good and bad. This season is pretty difficult for designers- after a loud Naomi Campbell run at Atelier Versace, Dior and Chanel should be scared. Dior is already a big looser, but that’s later… Roger Vivier, a Parisian old shoe label presented their designs of Haute Couture that are… A heaven. How can you put so much beauty into one bag or shoe? The capsule collection was all about gold and crystals mixed with fuksia, pink, red, violet and so on. The embroiderment used inside the shoe looks so fragile, and in reality is stronger than most of Made in Italy shoes. The world of Roger Vivier is a fairy tale. And if Cinderella would be alive, she would for sure wear one of these masterpieces.
Dior Haute Couture by Raf Simons was in my personal opinion a fail. That was the worst collection by Raf Simons ever. Inspired with women from African tribes and different cultures, this haute couture went totally bad. First of all because… It wasn’t really couture! The AW13 of Dior was more Haute than this. Here you could see simple coats with small scarves worm with it and dresses with stripes and a bit of embroiderment on the tops. Nothing else. And the shoes? The most horrible part! There was also a scandal that Raf Simons is a racist- he never put black women models into his shows. This season that changed with Joan Smalls and others, but still a problem appears about the… Boob size!
There was a problem with Jourdan Dunn, a American model who is a Afro American and was cancelled in last moment from the Dior show because of her… Boob size and “colouring”! As sne writes on her Twitter in a kind of irritated but happy way-
Well because her boobs are to small? This is a discrimination- somehow all other designers loved Jourdan (she even has a Jason Wu bag called for her) and here Simons says no to her because of that problem? Seriously thats kind of stupid. By the way, Dunn writes some more arguments opposing her presence on the Dior show.
Fashion world seems to be sometimes really silly and crazy… What more happened on first day of HC Week in Paris? Schiaparelli by Christian Lacroix. The collection doesn’t feels too much of Elsa, but very Christian Lacroix. Dresses from chiffon, feathers and gold, crystals and ornaments, colours… So much to mention. I loved the fur usage and stripes but it felt also a bit mot “today”. Maybe in past it would be as trendy as Givenchy now, but I don’t think Rooney Mara or Kim Kardashian would wear it on a gala…and the presentation was in Elsa Schiaparelli closed showroom in Paris, so no guests were there…
Day 5: Metropolitan Museum of Art and Soho
That was a really exhausting and long day! We were already on nine o’clock in the morning in Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the biggest museum in the world. After reaching the main hall, we knew we will not go out of this place too fast. First, we went to the medieval arts, then European Sculpture and Decoration. I really loved all those beautiful porcelain vases and bowls ! They were so adoring! So detailed! Next was the Robert Lehman Collection of paintings, furnitures and sculpture. Most of paintings were by El Greco, Rembrandt and Botticelli. The best of all were Arts of Africa, Australia and Americas. My favourites- Mayans golds, Navajo clothes and Papua’s decoration. Modern and Contemporary Art was really great- Picasso, Mondrian, Andy Warhol, Anish Kapoor, Edward Hopper, Joan Miro and Elisworth Kelly did a real sensation! But the key exhibition was the Prada and Schiaparelli: Impossible Conversations. The main fashion categories were Hard, Ugly, Naif, The Classical Body, Exotic Body and Surreal Body Chics. The exhibition was to show the dialog between two Italian designers. The Conversation considers the striking affinities between these two iconic designers from different eras: Schiaparelli who worked in Paris from 1920 until her house closed in 1954, and Prada who took over her family Milan based business in 1978. The collection shows us also, how art is important in fashion and everyday life. We were also upstairs, but I don’t want you to be bored. So lets look at the pictures: (unfortunately, most photos are from the phone, and the best ones are on my camera. When I will be back at home I promise I will send on the blog much more!)
Andy Warhol, Van Gogh, Brooklyn Bridge from the taxi boat and Yayoi Kusama decorations
After lunch in museum we hurried on a taxi boat, to see all the most important bridges like Brooklyn. Awesome! It was a lot of fun. We saw whole Manhattan’s and New Jersey coasts. When we were walking out from the boat we found a tiny park where were standing… Yayoi Kusama benches! That temporary pieces of art, were standing there because of the Kusama exhibition in Whitney Museum. For the dinner we went to Balthazar on Spring Street on Soho. That was really poor. The homemade linguine were okay, red snaper (fish) was also okay but the some of the oysters were… Anorectic!!! That should have been the most fashionable restaurant in the city, but it was too loud and we felt like we were in the cheapest bistro in Paris. But the day was great.
Design & Culture by Ed 