Ideas built upon ideas, and while some meshed more successfully than others, the point was in the remix, which took its constituent parts out of the stasis (and stuffiness) of stereotype.
There were exceptions, of course: designers who hewed to more traditional sources of inspiration, be it their own archives (the design team at Schiaparelli) or an imaginary meeting between Janis Joplin and Coco Chanel, as at Giambattista Valli.
Though that impossible encounter initially produced a triple punch of tailored, slightly flared “le smoking” trousers under sleeveless peplum tops or tulle silk dresses, topped by little black or white jackets, it later took a left turn and settled in a Cinecittà version of the Land of Sweets with sugar almond- tinted silk faille evening frocks enveloped by giant capes of many ruffles.
Pointedly, however, the actual house of Chanel seemed to dream of a warmer (other?) time, constructing a hothouse of tropical blooms in which to show a poesy of neat, midriff-baring suits. Sleeves and hemlines bloomed with a rainbow of iridescent, three-dimensional bouquets; rose-tinted, lattice-woven chiffon sheaths appeared under matching chiffon shirtdresses; and multi-textured-and-tinted tweed echoed poppy fields as seen from above.
While some of the more botanically fecund dresses were a little close to the land of the flower fairies, overall the sweetness was balanced by the slouch of the cut, and the result had a palpably contemporary feel. Perhaps the designer Karl Lagerfeld had global warming on his mind, or perhaps that’s overthinking the matter; but, either way, when a viewer at the couture in January sees gowns and thinks issues instead of Oscars, you know it’s a complicated new world.
Written by Vanessa Friedman for http://www.wesrch.com/
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