Last night Karl Lagerfeld gave his final "coup de maître" at the Haute Couture show in the endless luxury "war" with Dior (the press in the 50's liked to imagine this kind of war). The collection was presented in a brilliant night setting at Grand Palais with big No5 bottles in the middle (they paid a lot for the new campaign!) while Dior show was presented in their small av. Montaigne salons, something unusual for their big settings in the past. Dior show was not about what they officially said but about losing the battle with fashion and time. John Galliano created some New Look pieces done maybe in a hurry from previous patterns and stock materials though the hats were amazing. No surprise, because Dior is not anymore about fashion but about bags, shoes and logos.There is something else I discovered with a lot of sadness that showed me how far Dior is from 2009.
This year we commemorate 20 years from the end of Cold War and Berlin Wall, some art exhibitions were shown in Paris. Several days ago president Obama had a special meeting in Moscow setting for a new relation between USA and Russia. But 2009 is also the 100 years anniversary of Ballets Russes. Their style was quintessential to the relaunch of Dior in the mid 90's and quintessential to John Galliano's work (do you remember the collection shown at Opera Garnier?). The Kremlin ballet presents this years some masterpieces from that time …. shown on the theatre that is also on avenue Montaigne like Dior.
But 2009 has also another special event that Dior missed completely. In June 1959, 50 years ago, the Dior house was the first couture house after Poiret in 1911 (Poiret is also quintessential to John Galliano's style) to present in Moscow haute couture models for … 5 days. It was a special event in a country that first has banned the New Look and then, after Stalin's death adopted it. Many Russian ballerinas were shown in the late 50's in gowns inspired by Dior styles.
Now, as a sign of irony, Chanel window shops in Paris show their collection "Paris Moscou" in a constructivist setting while the gray dresses have something of a "stalin look" as stated by Karl in a video interview in december. I've allways wondered why there is such a distance between Dior Fashion and Dior Fragrances. Fashion and fragrances are allways about NOW.
photo: Life
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
