Images: Imaxtree
The fashion gods above were looking down on the industry’s elite as they flocked to Paris this week to view all the haute couture creations, and threw down a blanket of snow, which turned the French capital into a winter wonderland. Yet not even a blizzard could’ve dampened everyone’s spirits as they dashed between the Grand Palais and the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, flashing their invites to attend the likes of Chanel and Valentino.
Karl Lagerfeld (although absent from the show due to feeling unwell) instructed models to parade Chanel‘s 18th century-inspired collection around the lush gardens of #VillaChanel, while Pier Paolo Piccioli paid homage to African beauty with his magnificent and awe-inspiring cast of models for Valentino (no wonder it brought Celine Dion to tears). Alexandre Vauthier is a man who knows his clientele and is forever making us want to jump in a time machine back to the 80s (decked out in his latest wares, of course) and Viktor & Rolf‘s idea of mixing “sweetness and vulgarity” paid off big time.
All of this brilliance, however, was in between Maria Grazia Chiuri producing yet another questionable offering at Christian Dior (seriously, when is she resigning?). Clare Waight Keller is still arguably unable to get the knack of couture in the Givenchy ateliers and Balmain’s highly anticipated return to the couture calendar (after a 16-year hiatus) ultimately bombed, thanks to Olivier Rousteing.
Over the last few days, our unfiltered and no-holds-barred forum members have been deliberating each and every show. Here are theFashionSpot’s hits and (many) misses of the Spring 2019 haute couture season. See you in New York for the Fall 2019 shows…stay tuned!
Hits and Misses Paris Spring 2019 Haute Couture
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HIT: Alexandre Vauthier
"One thing about Vauthier, apart from his amazing teeth, he knows how to cut and construct flawless clothes. The fabrics are perfect and the execution is good. As an independent designer, it’s great!" [Lola701]
"This is one of the few shows that hasn't left me completely cold. There's something about his blend of glam rock, 80s suiting, and vintage party dresses that makes me excited. There's not in those clothes, they're the sort of things that you want to wear when you're having a good time, and I like that. He put his bride in a ruffled mini with a sweeping train, I can't hate on someone that does that." [AnaD]
"Much better than the last couple of seasons, there is some great stuff here. More refined and better cut, and more fun as well!" [gossiping]
See all the looks from the Alexandre Vauthier collection. -
MISS: Valentino
"FRILL OVERKILL! After watching the video I feel suffocated. It was too much of everything all the time, no room to breath. With all the fabric and volume, it was quite literally all over the place." [gazebo]
"This is beginning to look formulaic. It was thrilling the first time he started playing with these volumes, but now it seems a bit cocky." [dior_couture1245]
"Terrible and stuffy. It all looks so heavy and the floral prints here are legitimately curtains. It seems like he has this equation of couture that works itself out to bright colors in gazar and taffeta, extremely exaggerated volumes, a few headdresses for good measure, a little dose of 1960s and *boom* couture collection. Enough already, time to move on." [TianCouture]
See all the looks from the Valentino collection. -
HIT: Viktor & Rolf
"Very here for this. Not sure what that says about me, but I really love this." [TianCouture]
"Love this collection, my favorite collection of the whole couture season... because it is just pure mockery of 'pretty HC collections'. It feels like couture through the eyes of John Waters!" [jeanclaude]
"I kind of need these. I love the contrast of the sweetness and the vulgarity." [AnaD]
See all the looks from the Viktor & Rolf collection. -
MISS: Balmain
"Mother of god...this is 80s Claude Montana on a nasty overdose of the cheapest crack money can buy! It totally screams "HEY, LOOK AT ME, I AM OLIVIER ROUSTEING AND I MAKE HAUTE COUTURE...CAN ANYONE HEAR ME OUT THERE??" [jeanclaude]
"This is what a 7-year-old thinks haute couture should look like." [sore]
"Wow, OK. This collection actually managed to leave me speechless! For some reason I just assumed Balmain's couture line will actually have a bit more restraint? But it's like Olivier poured all his crazy and tacky camp into this line." [Benn98]
See all the looks from the Balmain collection. -
HIT: Elie Saab
"Guaranteed we'll be seeing that rich blue strapless ballgown (5th from the end) on the Oscars red carpet." [happycanadian]
"I want to see the blue embroidered suit and the multicolored halter gown (last before the pink section) on the red carpet." [AnaD]
"It’s fine. I mean, it serves his clientele. He is like Stephane Rolland in a way. This is for the weddings, red carpets and fancy parties around the world." [Lola701]
See all the looks from the Elie Saab collection. -
MISS: Jean Paul Gaultier
"I'm actually so confused." [Nomar]
"I just had to laugh a little when I saw this one." [AnaD]
"A while back when he closed down his RTW and would only continue couture, I was a bit sad but kept hope that he would go full on out with his couture collections since he would just work on that and not have to deliver so many collections a year.... but looking back, I'm disappointed. He's just been on automode and catering probably to the small core audience he has. It's a shame to see him fade away." [CommanderTMugler]
See all the looks from the Jean Paul Gaultier collection. -
MISS: Maison Margiela
"That background graffiti is giving me a headache, it makes it hard to appreciate all the details. Not a fan of this one, it's very wild and raw for my taste." [jeanclaude]
"It's really hard to notice individual pieces, and the stream was a mess. I can't really form an opinion about it, although my first thought was that I don't like any of it except for the satin ribbon blazers." [dodencebt]"I really do not like this. I love Galliano, but his time at Margiela has been less than exciting for me." [Salvatore]
See all the looks from the Maison Margiela collection. -
MISS: Zuhair Murad
"Zuhair Murad is like the Zara of haute couture. When you've all the money in the world why settle for this?" [TaylorBinque]
"I wonder how Elle Saab feels toward Zuhair Murad. OK, this is tackier, flashier and all but it’s literally an Elie Saab collection. The cast is obviously less expensive here. Maybe that’s his positioning: Elle Saab on a budget." [Lola701]
"I even hate the shoes." [AnaD]
See all the looks from the Zuhair Murad collection. -
MISS: Givenchy
"Sorry but what is Clare doing here? Flat, boring, uninspired, unflattering... it's even worse in motion!" [ghostwriter10549]
"Okay, I’ve defended Clare long enough thinking she will come into her own at Givenchy but this is disastrously boring and ugly for the most part." [dodencebt]
"There's really nothing to see here. Nothing new, nothing fresh. she could have kept the latex gimmick because it adds nothing to these otherwise basic dresses. I'm not sure who this really speaks to because it's not really saying anything. Why would I buy Givenchy couture today? Beyond basic and I had no expectations. Next." [reese06]
See all the looks from the Givenchy collection. -
MISS: Armani Privé
"Another circus-themed collection here? Because this time it looks like Giorgio wanted to focus the whole collection on clowns. If I were a couture customer I´d save a lot of money this season. So far everything is hideous." [jeanclaude]
"Usually I love his brocades, but the colors this year are blinding. It's a split of hits and misses, that blue and red he used so heavily aren't very good together outside of costuming, and there's just so much to sort through here. It's exhausting just scrolling through all this." [AnaD]
See all the looks from the Armani Privé collection. -
MISS: Azzaro
"Now I have the proof that it’s possible to be worse than Alexis Mabille! What an achievement! I refuse to believe that some people are actually buying this. It looks cheaper than Philipp Plein." [Lola701]
"He is just so stuck in 2012 and tackiness. I remember the media and Vogue Paris praised him as next big thing.... well! And I believe every designer must now have a mini dress with huge bow!" [Egoiste]
"This is honestly as missable as they come." [AnaD]
See all the looks from the Azzaro collection. -
MISS: Chanel
"Snoozefest!!! Is this really Chanel couture? I feel like I've seen this collection before (and the garden with pools venue didn't help either)." [xandroh]
"What is this collection? I know Karl has been going through the motions for some time now, but this is a new low. Why doesn't he just pack it in and go and design dresses for the middle-class mums at Guido Maria Kretschmer?" [Benn98]
"Didn't even notice the clothes because I was too distracted by the horrendous hair. Really poor choice." [Nomar]
See all the looks from the Chanel collection. -
MISS: Alexis Mabille
"I refuse to believe that this man uses the best fabrics to make his clothes..." [Lola701]
"Why do his clothes always look like OTT prom dresses that no one wants to wear anymore. I used to walk pass his boutique quite often and all I see are badly constructed dressed made of cheap fabric. Maybe it costs him a million but surely doesn't look like top-budget Project Runway outfit." [TaylorBinque]
See all the looks from the Alexis Mabille collection. -
MISS: Christian Dior
"LOL @ the circus inspiration. This is supposed to be a couture show: if you want to do something inspired by the crazy world of circus, do it but make it big, make it fun, make it wild. This is just another example of how boring, repetitive and dull her Dior is." [apple]
"It's Maria Grazia Chiuri, what can you expect?" [Perickles]
"This is a dumpster fire! Her worst couture collection so far and I bet it'll get worse!" [PierreGotha]
See all the looks from the Christian Dior collection. -
MISS: Iris van Herpen
"It’s creativity gone wild without any sense of who will wear these clothes." [donyan]
"She is always doing the same. Boring!" [Perickles]
"Very futuristic, if you live in 2012." [gazebo]
See all the looks from the Iris van Herpen collection. -
MISS: Ralph & Russo
"A disaster, like Giambattista Valli. They just don’t want sometimes to let the dress being beautiful in it simplicity. Designers who cannot appreciate simplicity cannot do subtle clothes. And if refinement and simplicity is out of your vocabulary, couture is also out of your league." [Lola701]
"So garish, and not even fun garish." [AnaD]
"Elie Saab must be sweating like a hooker in a church right about now." [Benn98]
See all the looks from the Ralph & Russo collection. -
MISS: Giambattista Valli
"A mess from start to finish." [Nomar]
"I was getting some Balmain vibes (both Rousteing and Dacarnin)... which is not a good thing." [billiejbob]
"I really missed his early collections. It seems like everything is on repeat. His atelier must have unlimited supply of tulles because god forbid he loves making cake dresses out of them." [TaylorBinque]
See all the looks from the Giambattista Valli collection. -
MISS: Schiaparelli
"I absolutely hate what they've done with this house... a house with all the potential in the world, and it's just so trite and silly what they do here. Stupid fairly tale crap. Not sophisticated at all." [dior_couture1245]
"What an eyesore. It's campy and OTT in the most annoying way." [TaylorBinque]
"It's as if current Gucci and Dior had a baby." [EstefaniaAbaddon]
See all the looks from the Schiaparelli collection.
