For
reasons that will have you questioning Imelda’s mental condition I find myself taking
an awfully pragmatic stance on Haute Couture…and no, I haven’t been pulling
bucket bongs with Marc Jacobs.
I
love it. I respect it. I enjoy the sometimes-campy dramatics, but doeth it make
my petty pants runneth over – no!
“Quelle
Horreur” you scream, “our infallible Queen’s a philistine”. Whilst it’s true, I
have on the odd occasion dined at the trough of ignorance, my reasons were
righteous (and kept me and my billions out of the big house).
For
a lot of fashionistas, Haute Couture is food the soul, yet it’s food that only
a select few can eat. Let’s not confuse my train of thought as an impassioned
plea for sartorial egality. No, the natural order of fashion dictates that rich
white women eat haute couture while the rest of the world eats refried High St
transfats.
Once
the addendum to Haute Couture, Prêt-à-Porter is now (for a multitude of reasons)
the main act. I find it a stormy, unpredictable and exciting chain of events
that have a real-time impact on your trotters. The rough ‘n tumble of Prêt-à-Porter is what gets my blood pumping and my mind ticking.
Haute
Couture is ‘pretty-pretty’, whereas Prêt-à-Porter is ‘pretty please’.
My
hostility towards haute couture stems from my aforementioned pragmatism and
visceral belief that apart from Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, couture no longer
delivers any noticeable footwear trends…and what is Imelda without a chunky trend
to gnaw into.
With
their petty pants all bunched, some Imedettes might ‘call-me’ for making absurd
sweeping generalizations, or worse, accuse me of gross journalistic negligence.
It’s the truth. So deal.
But
lets take lookse Givenchy.
Tisci,
the brightest light of haute couture gives birth to one, sometimes two,
electrifying trends each season. What I find intriguing is the way Tisci (and
to a lesser degree, other designers) weave those ideas into their September (or
March) collections.
Tisci is still exploring those subversive themes with fetish inspired toe-less lace up
boots.
Although
the Victorian style ankle booties and loafer style pump are new silhouettes,
elements of his styling would appear to be a redux of his western inspired S/S
09 collection (SEEN HERE).
Anyhoo,
I’ve prattled on long enough…lets just jump on in.
