A light breeze whipped away the billowing black and white chiffon robes and Arabic headgear, revealing gilded, jewelled armour and crowns, at the Givenchy haute couture collection for autumn/winter 2009/10 in Paris this afternoon.
As two youths played the ‘karkabou’ – nomadic castanets which replicate galloping steeds on cobblestones – the models paraded on a wooden stage built, appropriately enough in a former stables, out in the 15th arrondissement.
Givenchy’s couturier and creative director, the young Italian, Riccardo Tisci – who is currently dressing Madonna for her “Sticky & Sweet” tour – took his inspiration from medieval queens and the robes of North Africa, updated with python, spike-heeled shoe-boots which would not last a second in the sands of the Sahara, and plastic embellishments.
The models were barefaced, their slicked-back hair semi-veiled in chiffon hoods and snoods which rested atop spiky, golden coronets. Their arms were encircled with gilded cuffs, their hands bristling with metal, knuckle-duster-rings.
The silhouette spoke of a sharply-tailored warrior-women or a more sensual harem-style seductress, who quite possibly had a dagger concealed in the folds of her sarouel-trousers or jet-jewelled belt.
The largely monochromatic palette was punctuated with dramatic gowns and trousersuits in a flesh-tone silk crepe, emblazoned with red and green spikes, cones and studs.
Folded peplums and pannier-effects on trousers and gowns echoed the olde-worlde nature of the silhouettes, in stark contrast to the modernist embellishments in cellophane.
The couturier, Christian Lacroix, fresh from his own emotion-charged showing, and the new designer at Emilio Pucci, Peter Dundas, were among the front-row guests.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/paris-haute-couture-week/5770688/Paris-Haute-Couture-Givenchy-by-Riccardo-Tisci-aw-0910-collection.html>Alexander, Hilary. July, 2009.
I love seeing couture shows, in comparison to the ready-to-wear shows, how the inspiration is much more tangible and obvious down to the runway set.
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