Raf Simons Blooms at Dior Haute Couture

Just when you think you can safely bet on Raf Simons, he throws a fringed and beaded wrench into the mix. Case in point: Monday's Fall 2014 Haute Couture collection in Paris. Where only months prior, the Belgian designer sent spectacularly pretty and feminine silk dresses and pants down a garden path runway, this round he showcased a decidedly more forward perspective, influenced by the seemingly infinite iterations of the modern woman. Perhaps Simons found time to read de Beauvoir in his scant free time.

There was a tiered dresses in red silk that conjured the image of a twirling matador; and an off-white and striped dress with a hemline like a Mexican tablecloth. Collarbones were often decorated with tubular necklaces that seem to reference sub-Saharan designs, while cloaks and kimonos morphed into outwear.

 

                  


Only six months ago, Raf Simons' genius bloomed at Dior's 2014 spring Haute Couture presentation, a benchmark in the designer's prolific inaugural year at the storied Parisian house. Crops of svelte models, their hair doused and slick like petals after heavy summer rain, maneuvered their ways down a white runway edged with shrubbery, flowering with looks that evoked the unfurling of exotic fauna. Simons' designs honored the legacy of Dior and the innovation of silhouette that has made the name eponymous with tempered elegance.

Dior Cruise 2014

Raf Simons debuted his Dior 2014 cruise collection in the perfect setting last week: amidst the ever-glamorous Cannes Film Festival. He sent models down a Monte Carlo runway in looks that would have been been well received on red carpets--and a few bloomer-bearing ensembles that might make sense on the bow of a yacht alone.

Since Simons took the reigns of the storied house last year, I've been surprised by his inventiveness and nonchalant risk-tasking. (This season, it looked as though a few ladies hastened to pull their zippers after fleeing some midnight swim by moonlight.) I like to think his deviations from the spectacularly modern and pulled-together prove that we (our perspectives, tastes & experiences) are ever-evolving.

 



 

*All collages are the work of Francesca Soroka.

Paintings here are the work of Anne Harper.

cool & calm



Dior: Dali, Disney, or To Die For

Raf Simon's second ready-to-wear collection for Dior ran the gamut from the supremely elegant to the surreal. The high notes: his tuxedo dresses and coats, and the angular, voluminous ensembles in combinations like pink and white or black and red. The wobbly lows: a crochet dress that felt out of place, a few chiffon dresses that looked more Disney-does-Dali than traditional Dior, and an over sized grey pantsuit. It should be said all of the looks managed to showcase Simon's elegant, laser-cut-like tailoring, which, in the end, made the point that even his most underwhelming looks --those with touches of houndstooth or potholder textiles--are so expertly made, they fail to fail completely.

Images courtesy of Elle.com

All collages the work of Francesca Soroka

The Elephant

In the world of street-cred style, Alexander Wang reigns supreme. The stupendously young designer was tapped to take the helm of Balenciaga late last year, a move that signaled to many a shift for the storied brand towards a more youth-oriented, consumer-friendly market. The Parisian house of Balenciaga is known for its cutting-edge silhouettes, even if they're sometimes shapeless (see: 1957 sack dress). Alexander Wang's empire was built one $100 t-shirt at a time.

But that's a sign of the times: The t-shirt has become a staple in American dressing, and when paired with an ankle-length satin column, the look hits 2013 on the nose. It's realistic.

I was a bit surprised to see Alexander Wang's collection for Fall 2013, shown at New York Fashion Week.  It was a mass of leather, fuzzy mittens, and pleats that cut futuristic silhouettes (think androgynous and sharp), but I couldn't help myself from thinking, Yes, but who will actually wear this? Six foot tall, seven stone models aren't flattered by the designs. You'd have to really work to make one of the pieces relatable.

Did I just miss the point? Is fashion an expression, and nothing else? Am I taking creation and art and turning it into something mundane? Or, perhaps, I am asking out loud what everyone who knows, knows: that it is the effort to take something so improbable and turn into an effortless expression that is the currency of design?

The more I see the designs, the more I appreciate them. Wang didn't give us something pretty or expected. His collection challenges our notion of what good design is. Raf Simons did similarly with his debut Dior collection last Spring. He used iridescent neon gossamer where many assumed they'd find black silk. Wang gave us fur helmets instead of moto jackets. He gave us expression instead of a t-shirt.

(photos: Elle)

Dior Moment

There were the requisite LBDs done to perfection and exaggerated silhouettes that nipped at the waist and nodded to the brand's history, but this season's Dior collection for Spring and Summer did more than meet expectations.

Raf Simons embraced the 2013 season with fabrics, lines, and color combinations that were decidedly twenty-first century. His dresses seemed laser-cut, the colors glossed with iridescent space dust. Whereas other designers may have cowed to the brand's history, Simons made it his own. And in the midst of a fashion moment that seems to teeter between two extremes--the ugly chic of the '70s or pared-down Minimalism--Simon's did neither. He embraced 2013--the first year to break The Jetsons barrier that is, after all, just about to be our present.



 photos: WhoWhatWear

Day to Night

Last night we glided over plush red carpet to settle in the gilt chestnut that is the Metropolitan Opera. For three hours we sat enraptured in Wagner and the proximity we shared with tenors strung on a set that would have made M.C. Escher gasp. Before I knew it, we were back in the cab rushing home past midnight like I imagine Cinderella would.

What led up to the event was havoc, enough: Two hours of primping, steaming, and brushing. We had been out since the morning, rushed home with the sun still in the sky to prepare for our plans at night. I dream of days eventual when with YSL in the closet, I'll glide through hours in one simple suit.

Dior, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent