Christian Dior Spring 2012 Couture

Let's skip all the fancy stuff and get right down to it: Christian Dior Spring 2012 Couture is the most successful collection Bill Gaytten has given us so far.  I'm surprised, happy, and relieved that Gaytten took in the criticism over the past few seasons, and came out with a collection that is finally moving towards the better.  Mind you, it still lacks the magic and drama of Galliano's collections, but nonetheless, Gaytten deserves a good pat on the back for this collection.

There were a lot of aspects taken from the Spring/Summer 2012 RTW collection, but Gaytten infused Galliano's previous fascination with a kind of deliberately unfinished quality by using sheer fabric to expose the pieces to their bare bones, giving rise to a beautiful first couple of looks:

Then came looks much like those from RTW (notably the A-line skirts and wide necklines).  Some of the looks weren't like couture at all and definitely could have been revised, while others were remade with black crocodile skin and sheer skirts.

One of my favourite looks in the collection heralds the arrival of evening wear.  It was an outfit consisting of a sheer, pale lavender dress shirt with a multiple layered skirt.  It was casual-meets-couture and it was fantastically unexpected.

The lavender started to darken into a deep purple, and the dresses that ensued were utterly elegant and sultry.

And finally, the ever-famous ball gowns.  The line up could have been rearranged, since it felt as if the drama petered out near the end, but the first couple of gowns were beautifully layered.

One thing I have noticed is that after the last season's incohesive couture collection, Gaytten seems to be laying back on the colour.  Galliano always adored color, and more colour would bring some vibrancy to these collections.  Other than that, congratulations to Gaytten for coming through.  Just a bit more fine-tuning on the clothes and possibly creating a more solid theme and Dior may begin to pick itself back up again.

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Image Source: Style.com