Dior Post Galliano

There are a few fashion news items a year that even the most unfashionable are aware of. This year has seen Sarah Burton become a household name (it amuses me how everyone pretends they knew exactly who she was way before Kate Middleton stepped out of that car on her way to that church) and John Galliano become the new Mel Gibson- the man everyone seems to love to hate. Whether he's making news for his anti Semitic slurs or for designing Kate Moss's wedding dress, he's absolutely everywhere these days. Except for Dior that is. So how is the brand going to get on without him? Not very well, if the Dior Couture show held a few days back in Paris was anything to go by.

"Dior kicked off Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week with what can only be described as extras outfits from Katy Perry's California Gurls video. Not exactly what we were expecting from a fall/winter collection, the colours were bright, bold and in every shade and stripe imaginable," said one fashion blog
Online fashion bible Style.com proclaimed, "On the evidence of today's first Dior couture show without John Galliano, what happens is a misjudged effort to impress an alien thumbprint on an aesthetic that, for better or worse, is one of the fashion industry's most clearly defined."
"Things must be very strange these days at the House of Dior, judging by the haute couture show we saw Monday afternoon at the Musée Rodin. All sorts of weird vibes, along with a lack of design leadership, have a way of surfacing in clothes. A runway is like a shrink’s couch; stuff just comes out."- This quote was from Cathy Horyn of the New York Times who said of Dior's interim designer, Bill Gaytten, "He’s a sweetheart, but he is not a designer."

"How bad could the clothes be?" I thought to myself while reading the horrible reviews being Tweeted during the duration of the show. I've seen fashion shows in the past where I've shuddered at the clothes being shown, only for the clothes to have gotten raves reviews from the press. And sometimes, I've seen clothes that are quite pretty being worn by a celebrity and had the fashion critics slam it for being too safe or boring. To put it bluntly, I'm really no expert! Looking at the clothes though, I sort of understood what the fuss was about. Here are some pics of it below-

 The collection seemed disjointed and a complete mish-mash of colours and patterns- and not in a cool colour-blocking kinda way. The theme too seems to be all over the place with use of every single colour in the designers colour palette being put to good use. Yes we've seen designers come up with crazy fantastical, completely unwearable stuff on runways in the past, but think what your reaction would be if your favourite movie star wore one of these crazy designs on the red carpet? Exactly!

While some may argue that Galliano deserves whatever is coming to him, it's really sad to see Dior lose it's luster in the way that it has. I don't think I've ever witnessed a fashion show being slammed as publicly or universally as this one... And in the outspoken, fickle world of fashion, that sure is saying a lot!
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