Really Karl? Couture you say? Hmm… Don’t get us wrong , we love subtlety, but are left kinda bemused at Chanel’s spring/summer 2011 couture offering. At first glance: Just. Doesn’t. Seem. Like. Couture. Which prompts the question, what defines couture? Is it out-and-out OTT, outlandish ostentation or simply the painstaking craftsmanship? Were it the latter, Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel show yesterday was a lesson in understated couture finesse.

Mercifully for the model’s podiatry health, they padded out in flat ballet pumps rather than the archetypal crippling vertiginous skyscrapers. Given, the clothing barely differs from Karl’s R-T-W offerings, many of the diaphanous fabrics were actually minutely beaded embroidery.

Inspired by the artist, Marie Laurencin , the omnipresent sugary hues of the classic boucle tweed suiting, shift dresses and flowing maxi-gowns were interestingly offset by glossy black PVC cigarette pants. Absolutely saving the gently tiered ruffles abundant baby-pink and from being too far, far too frou-frou.

Posted on January 26, 2011 at 7:10:59 by The Real Runway