A couple of years ago I decided to cancel my subscriptions
to the fashion magazines I was receiving in the mail, mostly because they were
taking up way too much space and time in my life. The never-ending onslaught of images and
ideas was beginning to give me a headache and make me feel like a real
underachiever. Lovely ideas would flash
through my head faster than I could organize them, let along create anything!
But I really do miss the inspiration. Thankfully, just about everything can be
found online these days. Have you ever
been on style.com? If you want to lose
three or four hours in the blink of an eye, head right on over. Many of the recent collections include an
option to see the garment in motion, which brings a whole new level to the
experience.
And now I have an embarrassing confession to make.
I miss Mr. Galliano.
I should clarify that: I miss his
work. Couture should be completely over
the top, and set the imagination free.
And his creations are truly magnificent.
But it turns out he may not be the most kind human being in the world.
It really is a travesty that such ugly and racist thoughts
can live side by side with such creative beauty.
But isn’t genius pretty darn close to crazy, when you think
about it?
So should someone who is obviously incredibly talented and
at the top of his/her game have their title stripped from them because of one terrible moment in time?
Do you think Pablo Picasso was a nice guy? I don’t think so! And how about Sir Lawrence Olivier? I’ll bet he was a real peach to be around. But does that really take away from what they
accomplished?
And how about Coco Chanel?
– if there is any truth behind the Nazi collaboration, should the fashion house
be burned to the ground?
I certainly do not wish to make excuses for anyone, but I
keep coming back to the same conclusion.
Super successful and talented people are usually not the most considerate people in the world. There is probably a
long line of people lined up behind them who were stepped on and over.
Does achieving a certain level of mastery of a chosen field
cause a person to forget all of us mere mortals, not to mention a basic level of decency?
Okay, I will stop blathering on now.
As I am sure everyone knows, Dior's 2012 Fall Couture designs are out.
And it is back to basics.
But they are wonderful basics.
The Bar Suit has returned - with trousers. Oh well, I will just have to ask the atelier
to swap out the trousers for a pencil skirt when they make mine. But those jackets
are too, too, fabulous to pass up!
Perhaps there is some truth to the old adage that simplicity
is more difficult than the ornate, which can hide a multitude of sins.
All I know is, I want to sit with those men and women who
create these stunning works of art. I
wonder if they ever make clothes for themselves? Or after hours of bending over a cutting
table and pinning muslins on a mannequin, are they sick to death of a needle
and thread? I do wonder . . .
I there a way that I can contact the second assistant to the assistant that
delivers the flower arrangements for the runway show? May I tag along with them, just to get close
to the wools, and silks, and chiffons, and beaded trims. And, gosh darn it, I NEED to see the inside
of those garments.
[Images from style.com]
I do think that someone who does something truly horrid should be stripped of any titles and honours they've been given. I would hold up as an example the man who was awarded a medal of bravery for rescuing a dog during the Black Saturday bushfires, but recently stripped of that award when it came out that he had been convicted of severely beating his wife (making her blind in one eye and causing her to miscarry).
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't mean you can't enjoy the creations though - we all benefit from the medical discoveries made by experiments carried out by Nazis on their prisoners. I just think that people who act so truly despicably shouldn't be allowed to profit from such things, or be accounted as brave or good or a hero. Many many bad people do good things, that doesn't make them good people.
I agree with you - I miss John Galliano as well, he's a brilliant designer. Fashion is definitely not the same now that he and Alexander McQueen are gone. I hope he comes back.
ReplyDeleteI definitely miss Galliano but I understand entirely why Dior had to fire him. For one thing, what he did was criminal and the brand cannot allow any scandal involving their designer to eclipse their work. On the other hand, I hope he comes back to his own label soon because I miss his designs. But I don't think anyone else is going to employ him any time soon.
ReplyDeleteAs for the new collection, I think that Raf Simons has done a good job at balancing his own aesthetic with that of Dior but I feel like the styling has come straight from one of his shows at Jil Sander!
For me style.com is almost the only place to get news. I find they are lacking analysis, what you often find in magazines. But amazing thing about style.com is that you can see every collection for every designer for the past 5 years.
ReplyDelete