Influenced: Rodarte Spring 2010 and Valentino Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2010The House of Valentino has gone through a couple of changes since Monsieur Garavani exited. First, they hired Alessandra Facchinetti to design and one Couture Season after, she was unceremoniously fired. Ever since, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, former Accessories designers for Valentino have been at the helm. I have to admit: I think they should have kept Facchinetti-- it was my favorite post-Garavani Valentino Haute Couture Collection. Case in point: For Spring/Summer 2010, Chiuri and Piccioli sent out some beautiful designs, BUT, it was very different from the season before...and the season prior to that....
Make up your mind darlings. Are you "Classic Valentino... with a Twist"? Or are you Rodarte?The color blocking, styling, and punk/apocalyptic make-up was very un-Valentino and more Blade Runner 2010...
Can someone PLEASE explain this above? PLEASE??? It should be on a Fashionista test: "For $5,000, can anyone identify the designer of this dress?" I bet that 99.9 % would NOT have said "House of Valentino". That might NOT be a good thing kiddies...
However, there were some moments of "Valentino Clarity": As in this limoncello-colored silk chiffon gown. I would love to see someone wear this gown to the Oscars. Seriously. That actress would certainly be a stand out! (Sans that eye blindfold, of course!).Valentino Preview Video Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2010
Elie Saab Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2010
Elie SaabPastels reigned for Spring 2010 at the Elie Saab Haute Couture show. Saab has been accused of being repetitive in his designs and once again, if you breeze through this 44 look collection it almost looks like you are viewing many of the same gowns over and over again. But Elie Saab knows his client (multi-millionaire Chinese women, Persian Gulf and Eastern Europe DIVAS!) and delivers exactly what she wants.
One has to understand that in Haute Couture, if someone orders a dress that costs upwards of $100,000, very often you want to be the ONLY person who owns this one-of-a-kind garment. Therefore, Saab intelligently offers multiple variations on his exquisite creations giving each woman the "Elie Saab Look" but different enough to call her own.
The one variation in the collection were two chiffon gowns that were created using a very large floral watercolor print. Although not for everyone, these prints certainly stood out amongst the sea of beaded frocks and looked perfect for a Swedish Princess.Elie Saab Preview Video Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2010