This popped up on my feed for some reason, and the first thing I saw was this:
And thought – wow – how beautiful. This looks suspiciously like a silk 4-ply crepe skirt with the beaded top and thought this was so elegant, flattering and classic for all time, and yet new and refreshing. Taking it apart here there is a lot to like.
- Top has a classic Chanel-esque trim, but it’s not a Chanel copy. This is actually a classic binding to a notched collar, and something to really take a close-up look. It’s hard to see this on the model’s left side, but on the right side it’s easier to see. In the notch itself there is no trim across the inside of the curve. This is how you classically apply this trim. This doesn’t seem like how you would do it, but it is the classic way to bind a notched collar – and of course the couture way.
- Next is the nice accent to waist with the hip pocket trim right at the waist line. You don’t always have to do this, as a matter of fact I’m not normally fond of this, but for this look, it’s really a nice nod to the waist line. Of course the silhouette helps too. So we’ve got a nice feminine waistline.
- The skirt is classic and not too volumous or too much, but also it flows beautifully (click here for the video 1:37 into the video is this outfit and you can see how elegantly the skirt moves)
- It’s sleeveless, and for me that’s not a dealbreaker, because of course I’m not going to make this as is, I’m going to take the parts that I love so much and make it from that. This means: 1.) the fabric and 2.) the overall silhouette. I think that’s what so exciting about this whole show – is the silhouette. So let’s look at more of the goodies.
Another elegant-lined silhouetted garment. This photo doesn’t really show how beautifully this garment moves, but it’s plainly elegant. Not many of us can afford 4-ply silk crepe (usually around $120 or more/yard), but a peach skin type fabric works beautifully here and flows just as well. Of course, it’s not silk and doesn’t have that pearlized sheen that silk crepe has, but it does flow like a 4-ply silk crepe and handles fairly well in the make-up. What I’m really toying with here is a longer tunic type look, not to the floor, and some solid colored leggings with the tunic being a bouquet of watercolor flowers. This would be really exciting. And as you can see this wouldn’t look anything like this specific garment, but working from this garment, I’m excited about the movement and the way it moves when walking. And that’s what I’m looking for in this garment.
Again it’s the silhouette that’s so fabulous here. There are several things to notice – the shoulders are where they are supposed to be, but there is a clear rounding of the shoulders at the sleeve head. There might possibly be a dart at the top of the sleeve head making for a softer line around the shoulders. There’s also the side front seam, that has no dart to the bust. That won’t work for me and I’d have to add a bust dart in that seam. BUT, there is the button right below the bust and above the waist that is very appealing for a silhouette, and for something different it looks like the pants have a very high waist to them, which is totally new, and yet they appear to be loose and roomy through the hips and natural waist area. Watching this move in the video it looks like there might even be pleats in the front of the pant which give it much more room. This is pause for thought, as I’m not exactly sure how that would fit or look – it might be a too-new look to carry off well, but something to keep in the back of my idea cabinet!
This is just plain dreamy, the way this closes with these window-pane pleats or ribs in the fabric. It’s double-breasted and beautifully tailored (look at the shoulders and how the pleats match across the sleeves). This is something that looks like it would be absolutely gorgeous in Ponte. Ponte responds fabulously to pin-tucking like this and to think about a Ponte that could be tailored with pintucks would really be interesting.
Perusing through one of my “idea” books last week I saw this, and now rethinking this for a Ponte jacket or top. Don’t like the off-the-shoulder sleeves, but that’s OK cause thinking about this as darts in a top that would probably be a little lower so that the side points of the design would be at the waist – but doing this in pointe would be a lot of fun.
I feel some sketching coming on!
And finally, this is the final shot of the finale of the show.
This is Maria Grazia Chiuri herself the creative head of Maison Dior, and she’s not svelte nor perfectly shaped. It’s important to realize that a lot of these female designers aren’t perfectly shaped, and hopefully, this gives the rest of us a little comfort. I’m a lot like Tim Gunn about this because considering MGC and her shape, why doesn’t she design more for her-shape types instead of the paper-thin models in her show? I think if you look closely, at her designs, that MGC could fit into any of those designs (sized for her), and look very nice. One more thing I like about this collection.
Wondering if this might mean more structured/tailored garments are headed to the racks? Less fast fashion junk??????? I LOVE THESE OUTFITS.
We can only hope, Marilyn. That’s been my hue and cry for the last 20 years. My hope is that clothing will finally be better made, and if nothing else, it will be better made on the runway, like Dior’s S/S 2022 show certainly was. This means that the knock-off artists have to step up their game to at least look some-what more like what they are copying.
My other hope is that the consumer will begin to understand the real bargain of the more expensive, well-made, classic garment as it will last often hundreds of times longer than the cheap item. I have a client right now who purchased from a well-known, outstanding manufacturer (one of those lines that are shown and purchased in the lady’s home). It’s a dream to do alterations on this clothing because it is all so well constructed – shaped like a tank (which is where I come in to make it much more flattering) but still made beautifully. The other item is from Zara and honestly, I can’t wait to see it on her. The fabric isn’t thin – it’s flimsy and the jacket is poorly shaped. The double-breasted, crown-themed buttons are plastic. And not the nice heavier plastic. I swear they are hollow plastic with the thinnest silver paint on them. Of course, the first thing that happens is that the buttons hit something hard and the paint chips – that will add a great look to the whole jacket. But it’s more than that. The whole garment is simply shapeless – it’s supposed to be a tailored, double-breasted jacket that feels and hangs more like a chiffon garden dress. Like I say, it’s going to be interesting when we try on the two garments side by side.
But yeah, I went nutso over this collection – there are a couple of more coming up from some old houses in Paris, and really neat ideas and great looking stuff! Thank heavens – it’s about time we have pretty clothes. We need it to get us out of pandemic mode!
I love the second one, above! It’s interesting to note that, if I were wearing it, I would be self-conscious because it doesn’t close in three front!
And you know this is what makes it so much fun for us creative sewists…we can make it close where we want it to and adopt the other part as inspiration. When I look at these clothes that’s what I’m thinking – I like the line of the collar but not of the lower part of the jacket, or I like the line of the jacket but don’t like that fabric. We can throw away what we don’t like or know won’t look good on us and use the part that we do like.