Storm Irene: Morgane Dubled

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Alexis Mabille Fall 2009 Couture.

Hanna Rundlof (MARILYN)

Alexis Mabille is the young contender at Paris couture—a new talent with a romantic touch, a French sensibility, plenty of skill at his fingertips, and a refreshing way of thinking about merging old ways with new.

Bojana Reljic (IMG)

For Fall, he said he started by imagining a girl waking from a languorous night of dreams tangled in her bedclothes.

Kelli Lumi (MAJOR)

Well, she comes from a very nice home, this one.

Skye Stracke (VIVA)

Apparently, she sleeps on exquisite white Swiss lace-edged linen pillowcases, shell-pink silken sheets, and luxuriously hand-worked cotton coverlets, which were variously cut into everything from fragile dresses to scallop-edged peacoats to drapey tuxedos to simple togas with a beautiful flow about them.

Alina Ilie (IMG)

If that sounds like high-flown concept, Mabille's knack is that he's able to take the precious materials of couture fabrics—weightless organdy, guipure, and elaborate broderie anglaise—and treat them with a degree of reality that defuses theoretical grandeur.

Jourdana Phillips (SLIDES)

"I wanted it to look loose and casual-fitting, so she can wear things with the attitude of pulling on a T-shirt," he said. "I tried to play with simple graphic shapes, so everything floats. She's not such a girly-girl."

Jules Mordovets (IMG)

The collection also demonstrates an ambitious range—Mabille can turn out structured cocktail bustier dresses for ingenues as well as smart tailoring and chic evening suits for sophisticates.

Siri Crafoord (VIVA)

The show could've benefited from a tighter edit, but that's forgivable from a designer who's still stretching his wings. Credit to him for developing a signature, and for the pragmatic focus that underpins his enterprise.

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

"It's not just a question of having fun. I have couture customers, but I'm also offering ready-to-wear options alongside these things," he said. "I want to build a business."

Daria Strokous (IMG)

He's certainly come a long way from being pigeonholed as the guy who does cute things with bows and bow ties. Now the bows are the basis of a large collection of bags, jewelry, and accessories—and are still evident in the satin sashes and shoe decorations sprinkled through the runway collection. But to judge from the growing accomplishment of this show, Mabille's set to go a lot further still.

Angelika Kocheva (MARILYN)

Maria Kashleva (NATHALIE)

Yana Karpova (ELITE)

Morgane Dubled (VIVA)

Alexandra Agoston (NEXT)

Viviane Orth (IMG)

Madeleine Blomberg (NATHALIE)

Milagros Schmoll (NATHALIE)

Shu Pei Qin (NEXT)

Myrthe Mabille

Kori Richardson (IMG)

Diana Gärtner (VIVA)

Kelli Lumi (MAJOR)

Alina Ilie (IMG)

Liu Wen (MARILYN)

Hanna Rundlof (MARILYN)

Skye Stracke (VIVA)

Bojana Reljic (IMG)

Siri Crafoord (VIVA)

Daria Strokous (IMG)

Jourdana Phillips (SLIDES)

Jules Mordovets (IMG)

Yana Karpova (ELITE)

Angelika Kocheva (MARILYN)

Viviane Orth (IMG)

Maria Kashleva (NATHALIE)

Myrthe Mabille

Alexandra Agoston (NEXT)

Shu Pei Qin (NEXT)

Diana Gärtner (VIVA)

Madeleine Blomberg (NATHALIE)

Morgane Dubled (VIVA)

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

Kori Richardson (IMG)

Liu Wen (MARILYN)

Milagros Schmoll (NATHALIE)

Alexis Mabille

Friday, July 10, 2009

Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2009 Couture.

Lara Stone (IMG)

There was no misunderstanding the opening, at least: the MGM signature tune and Lara Stone strutting petulantly in a leather trenchcoat, beehive, and giant pout—it was Bardot to a T! Jean Paul Gaultier always lets us know where we are at the outset, and for Fall, we were off on a movie buff's coach tour of the gracious wardrobes of Hollywood heroines.

Tara Gill (VIVA)

Ostensibly. In fact, it proved a bit of an elastic theme that at times meandered off-script.

Emily Trimble (FORD)

It ranged so widely—from a Louise Brooks flapper dress and gilded fur coat to an ultrashort gold T-shirt under a black leather vest that looked like a possible choice for Lindsay Lohan—that it was sometimes hard to see where the designer was going.

Kim Noorda (VIVA)

(Geometric-Deco meets sci-fi was a particularly odd patch.)

Karlie Kloss (NEXT)

Still, theme fashion shows are a dusty old concept in the first place.

Morgane Dubled (VIVA)

All that matters in haute couture is a strong voice, incredible workmanship, and whether a balance between timelessness and timeliness has been struck.

Lakshmi Menon (NATHALIE)

Gaultier did all that by working in his stock characters and garments: the matelot, the androgynous lady in the pantsuit, the trenches, the smokings, the corsets.

Alana Zimmer (WOMEN)

No one in Paris can top his tuxedo coat with velvet revers, the just-so cut of a pantsuit with a double collar, or the funny showgirl things he did here as an excuse to spotlight the kind of corseting he's been doing since before Madonna was a star.

Alexandra Agoston (NEXT)

As for the timeliness, he threw in a nod to sporty-casual chic (a notion that's raising its head with persistence this week) via overalls in both amethyst velvet and gold paillettes.