Haute Noorda

Spring '11 couture season kicked off in Paris yesterday, and it's good to see couture isn't the only thing making a comeback. Last fall's couture shows prompted those in the know, possibly after attending Givenchy's 11-look showcase, to herald it as having returned to its intimate (yet still extravagant) roots. And it seems Amsterdam-born model Kim Noorda has experienced a similar sort of transition. While 2010 was a quiet one in terms of runway appearances, if the start of couture week is anything to go by (Noorda has already walked for both Christian Dior and Armani Privé) 2011 is shaping up to be quite different. Here's hoping she'll be a mainstay as we round the bend into fashion month, kicking off in New York in less than three weeks. Three weeks!

  

via:tFS

Couture by Night

I wasn't going to blog today, I swear. I was going to be a good girl and finish all my assignments. But then, just as I was almost done with my quick fix of editorial for the day, I found this. I've always said to myself that someday I would start an inspiration wall of sorts, someplace to hang all the stories, snapshots, styles and supers that have been saved and stored over the years, but have never found that one really great image to propel me to do so. Until now. Natasha Poly and Baptiste Giabiconi, lensed by Karl Lagerfeld (who else?) for Numéro #116. Featured in the editorial Couture by Night, I love every single element of this shot.

I love the two street lamps in the background; the way they cast a mellow shadow over the provincial apartments whilst providing a scene for these wandering lovers of the night. I love the ease with which Baptiste is holding Natasha, like she is nothing more than her own dainty champagne flute. I love the black and white of the photography, and how it is deliberately mirrored through their matching couture. I love the way Natasha's toes are pointed down, like a ballerina; aware but effortless in her positioning at all times. I love his strong, and her soft - but both smouldering - stares. I love it, I love it all.  

via FGR

couture couture

Models swirling around a lion's den at the Grand Palais in Paris for Chanel's haute couture show.

 Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! The fall haute couture shows have recently wrapped in Paris, with lions at Chanel, in honour of Leo Mlle. herself. Tigers (or their tamers/ Dita von Teese) clad in latex at the close of Jean Paul Gaultier. Bears, or -inspired coats, jackets and womanly layers at Armani Privé. Designers and couture houses this season have turned back to the traditions of the (g)olden days, favouring private showcases and intimate exhibitions over full-blown catwalk shows (à la Chanel). Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy was the main proponent, bringing couture back to its roots by opting for an intimate exhibition as a way for clients and editors to interact with the couture. Such a setting affords each delicately constructed, ornately encrusted garment the kind of attention that simply isn't possible in a catwalk show.

 For most of us, couture week is simply another chance to indulge our eyes upon fashion (or in my case- just another excuse to write about it); but as extravagant and frivolous it may be, the fact remains that couture is a dwindling, ahem, trend. Gone are the days of ateliers and fittings, meetings and measurements. Globalisation and consumerism have lead to the proliferation of ready to wear and the steady decline of the couture customer. The sheer media coverage of these lavish lion-laden spectacles (thanks, bloggers) boosts sales from prêt-à-porter and diffusion lines which in turn supports the haute couture divisions of the houses. Last year's liquidation of the fabulously extravagant Lacroix exists to remind us all just how delicate, quite literally, is the balance in which couture hangs. So if the Riccardo Tiscis of the world may leave one mark upon couture it should be the re-emergence of the intimate showcase; the pure attention to detail and the utmost interaction with the client - which - after all, is what couture is all about.   

If nothing else, couture provides us with an inside peak at the upper echelons of exclusivity and beauty; and judging by the ten creations Tisci sent out, who can complain with that?

pictures: style.com, Zimbio