Paris Spring-Summer 2011 haute couture
Paris Spring-Summer 2011 haute couture: many different styles for a unique refined woman
A couple of weeks ago, Paris was the setting of one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the fashion scene: the presentation of the new spring summer 2011 haute couture collections.
The event, following the Milan and the Paris Men’s fashion weeks, drew the interest of thousands of buyers and journalists from around the world, curious to see first hand all the latest styles proposed by the most famous French fashion designers (and others) in women’s haute couture for the coming spring-summer season of 2011.
There were great expectations of this Paris fashion parade, as each designer focused his collection around the image of a woman returning to her natural allure and elegance, while still retaining plenty of original details.
The women’s look of the next summer season will be characterized by vivid colours alternating with soft ones, overlapping fabrics and decorative stones giving brightness and enhancing the woman’s silhouette.
But, while dresses are really magnificent and wide ( in particular those proposed by the fashion house Christian Dior), accessories such as handbags or jewels are rarely used, as designers want to focus the audience’s complete attention exclusively on what the woman is wearing.
Then, as mentioned above, the dresses are extremely rich in decoration, sometimes even created by the overlapping of extremely wide skirts, so that clasping a pochette in the hand would be in some cases quite impossible!!!
Shoes can be very high heeled but also ultra flat, like the ones proposed by Chanel, while high quality leather belts and sashes are used to define the waist line.
But, what are the latest styles proposed by some of the most famous French (and Italian) designers in haute couture for the coming spring-summer season? Let’s look at them in more detail!!!!
Chanel fashion house, thanks to its top designer Karl Lagerfeld, sends its models down the catwalk wearing ultra flat shoes with oriental details. Very sweet tonalities, shiny fabrics and silver effects make this ethereal collection even more soft and wearable, perfect for a woman who wants to show her natural beauty, her refined seductive side through her look,.
Pants are the Must have article of this Haute Couture collection and they are worn alone or under short skirts, dust coats, trapeze dresses or enriched by a delicious sash enhancing the waist line, as if they were leggings. Made of silk or cotton, enriched by rhinestones and decoration, stretchy or wide cut: pants appear in almost every creation proposed by Chanel, while the use of bows and jais recalls the style of 60’s, completing a collection that will certainly attract even the youngest generation but has plenty to delight affluent older women who love luxury products.
The Chanel spring-summer 2011 collection is aimed at an elegant, ageless woman wearing soft pastel shades such as grey, pink, cream, or classic black with encrustations of pearls everywhere, the perfect style for an unforgettable evening full of light and brightness.
Christian Dior’s collection, personally conceived by the whimsical John Galliano, is a tribute to the traditional atmosphere of court with women wearing very wide-skirted dresses with long trains, flared skirts made of tulle alternating with stretch skirts worn with voluminous blouses.
Fabrics are overlapped in order to create significant volume giving emphasis to the natural woman’s style. Leather belts clinch the waist line while luxury gloves to the elbow give the woman a further touch of superb elegance and charm.
Accessories such as handbags or pochettes are completely absent from this collection, while shoes are high heeled with a double bow on the instep. Decorative colored feathers are worn in the hair, if the woman doesn’t wear her very small hat.
Unlike Chanel, Christian Dior fashion house focuses the new spring-summer haute couture collection on very vivid colors such as red, fuchsia, blue and strong green, even though we can also find lighter pastel colors such as aqua green, beige, honey yellow, pink, white or bronze.
Giorgio Armani, for his Armani Privé collection, proposes some creations inspired by the world of jewelry. Stones and rhinestones are set on dresses and accessories to brighten and enhance the woman’s silhouette. Shiny luminous fabrics, such as double satin, organza and genuine exotic leather with lamè effects, enfold the new Armani woman, propelling her into a futuristic and almost science-fiction dimension.
Armani too, like Chanel, promotes the use of leggings, while shoes are rigorously high heeled.
Unlike the other designers taking part in this important fashion kermesse, Armani sends some of his models down the catwalk with a small pochette in hand, obviously in the same color as the clothes worn and mainly made of satin or genuine crocodile.
Hats, in perfect futuristic style, are disk-shaped while the veils covering the faces of the models look like real fencing masks.
And what about the colors? Mr. Giorgio Armani focuses his Armani Privé collection on gorgeous tonalities such as emerald green, ruby red and sapphire blue next to shiny white or electric blue.
The Jean Paul Gaultier spring-summer 2011 haute couture collection, on the other hand, matches the determination of rock, the unmistakable punk recklessness and precious fabrics for a collection that aims to impress with startling originality.
Naked shoulders are concealed by sensual cuts on the clothes, dresses are below the knee while jackets are absolutely feminine.
Evening dresses are an explosion of ruching forming significant volume while other dresses are nude look.
The Gaultier collection then, shows some references to the typical style of 50’s and to the traditional Carioca fancy dress, punk meets cancan, with multicolor ruches applied everywhere.
Handbags are dismissed by Mr. Gaultier who replaces them with numbered plates that each model clasps in the hand like strange clutches.
Valentino fashion house, thanks to its designers Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri, shows a high fashion collection which perfectly combines lightness, seduction and preciousness but without appearing too obvious. The style is fresh and modern with plenty of class and elegance.
Chiffon, tulle, silk, satin and very soft cotton: impalpable fabrics that transform into soft flower petals showing an educated sensuality and a refined artfulness. The chosen colors are almost all pastel shades (bronze, lilac, gold lamé, white), excepting the classic Valentino red, the distinctive element of this world famous Italian brand.
Handcrafted workmanship, meticulous embroidery, ruches and hand made pleats are the details of a refined haute couture that captures the attention of the spectator without being too showy, a precious collection that is, at the same time, absolutely wearable too.
Dresses are seductive but they keep the woman covered to the neck, so that she appears paradoxically unconventional; yes, because, as those same designers Piccioli and Chiuri affirm:
“appearing elegant and covered, in a society where we are obliged to see nudity every day, can certainly be considered a symbol of provocation and rebellion”.
When the spotlights were dimmed from the Paris haute couture spring-summer collections, the fashion jet-set moved to Rome for the opening of the “Alta Roma, Alta moda” event.
Do you want to discover the latest haute couture news for the next spring-summer season conceived by our famous Italian designers?
Don’t miss our next article!!!
