Couture Fall '09-Valentino

There were lots of intricate textures and details at Valentino, which redeemed it from being rather dull as it's all in black and beige. It might not have grabbed my attention like some of the aforementioned shows but it was a consistently beautiful collection which yet again has high levels of wearability *sigh...*. When did couture become so practical?! Actually there were some more elaborate looks towards the end which did satisfy my rather particular expectations, so I can't complain fully.

Couture Fall '09-Christian Dior

YAY. THIS is what couture should be like! This collection was a visual feast from start to finish, like gorging on a huge box of extremely expensive and delicious chocolates-the dresses were decadent and delicately crafted and strongly reminiscent of the original Dior New Look, but with great modern twists like the leopard print which appeared on a few dresses. I also like the styling choices-often a jacket would be worn only with heels and stockings, to show it off to its utmost. For this reason some of the looks are less immediately wearable but the craftsmanship here is exquisite and revived my belief in couture designers-I had thought they'd all lost their sense of show, but Galliano has proved me totally wrong.

Couture Fall '09-Chanel

This collection didn't really strike me the first time, partly because many of the photos weren't up to Style.com's usual high quality-in some of them the model was caught at an awkward angle that didn't display the clothes at their best, and in a few of them the model was side on, not even posing stationary. THEN I realised that the photos were taken by 'Monica Feudi/gorunway.com' instead of Marcio Madeira who covers practically every runway show that has its pictures on the Vogue website. Aha. Mystery solved.

Anyway, I looked over it again and bookmarked the standout pieces, which there were obviously many of, Chanel being designed by Karl Lagerfeld and all-but in a 66 look collection I would have expected more WOW items than there were. I still struggled to get really swept away by the Chanel collection. It's got lots of positive responses from the fashion press but personally it just didn't jump out at me like Alexis Mabille did, although there were some really lovely dresses. I just feel that couture designers should stop branching out into random ordinary daywear and stick with stunning dresses, which is what couture originally was (apart from Alexis Mabille, who is now my new love. He can do whatever he wants.).

Couture Fall '09-Armani Prive

This collection improved as it went on. The second half, the eveningwear section, was fantastic, with clothing that, like the Alexis Mabille collection, really made me stop for about 15 seconds to take a closer look (and seeing as I usually scroll through the collections at the speed of light that was an achievement!). But most of the suits at the beginning weren't much different from the RTW collections, many of which erred on the side of caution and went for staple 'officewear' just like the first half of this collection. However, like I said, the second half was really wonderful with some excellent dresses-plenty here to like.

Couture Fall '09-Alexis Mabille

This collection had many faces-fresh young milkmaid one minute, foxy Parisian partygoer the next-but every look was so pretty. I know that's an adjective which is increasingly out of fashion, but I wanted to wear almost every item I saw. I had a hard job narrowing down my favourites to half of the collection, let alone ten photos. So often couture is beautiful but unwearable, but this collection was utterly desirable. I know that half the point of couture is that it's meant to be completely fantastical, and a part of me wondered why this show was much different from some of the RTW collections, but just by looking you can tell that these clothes are exquisitely made, which after all is the basis of couture clothing. I'm doing each show one by one, so I don't know how Alexis Mabille compares to the others yet, but I'm sure it will be right up there in my top three favourite couture collections for this season. Love, love, love it.

ROLL ON SUMMER '09

I FINALLY broke up today. I cannot explain how elated/exuberant/DAMN HAPPY I was when we were finally dismissed from school for the next two months. I have never been so happy to see a holiday before-for the past two weeks I have been walking around in a haze of tiredness, unable to concentrate properly on anything. Tiny tasks have become huge, insurmountable hurdles while the days have gone ever more slowly, despite the complete absence of any work apart from in maths and history. The summer now stretches ahead, an empty void free for sleeping in, lazing around, exploring London, catching up on my blog (I have a number of major posts I've neglected to put up)...So happy holidays everyone!

Scarves

My scarves, from various countries. L-R: Saudi Arabia, South Africa, England, China, England, Mallorca, England, England.