Dior Haute Couture Fall 2014: Modern Mechanics

Thank gawd.  Nary a cut high in the front, floor sweeping in the back gown in sight.  I was getting a little worried about Raf Simons.  

But on Look 10, I could feel my heart pounding, and thinking Yes! this is what couture should be!  A mechanic's jumpsuit, beautifully embroidered and cinched at the waist with an amazing belt!  It's Modern Mechanics for the haute couture.

How would I wear this?  Honey, let me count the ways: with the pants rolled up with a flat sandal for a super casual night out, with a Converse sneaker for going to RARE vintage in the morning and/or with a simple high stiletto to a ball...

And speaking of investment: Are you ready to rock the embroidered frock coat like Look 38?  I hope this makes the cover of Vogue worn a la the Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele styled first issue of Vogue under Anna Wintour's editorship in 1983 - you know the one, when Carlyne put a Lacroix couture jacket with a pair of jeans.  This frock coat needs a pair of jeans...

Raf Simons for Dior Fall Couture 2014.  Photos from Style.com

love, kisses and j'adore Dior, Juliana

I Dreamt of Soft Pink Petals and Petticoats...

I saw this image of a Christian Dior haute couture dress on Tina Laakkonen's Instagram and swooned.  Seriously swooned.  Like I needed a little whiff of J'Adore parfum to rouse me from my swoon.  This is a dress for a heroine in a novel.  She is quirky, witty, she loves grandeur.  And it is truly and unbelievably beautiful...

Look 38 from Raf Simons for Christian Dior Spring/Summer 2013 haute couture

love, kisses and a little Dior haute couture, Juliana

The Lightness of Dior

At first glance, I did not love the Dior Spring couture 2014 collection but then upon closer look, I saw a breadth of fresh air in the house of haute couture.

"It's not about stillness, not about the couture pose." 

Raf Simons

To me, it seemed about clouds and pixie dust.  

Up in the clouds...

A sprinkling of pixie dust...

Into the secret realm...

and Dorothy's got a brand new pair of slippers...

Christian Dior couture Spring 2014. Photos from Style.com

love, kisses and vintage, Juliana

Mad for Mats Gustafson

I have learned, in buying for RARE vintage, never to say never.  Because you never know.  I never entirely shut the door on a designer - who may not be a favorite of mine - just because you never know when you will see something unexpected and fall in love.  I always want to see before deciding no - or yes.

And you know how I was just writing about Antonio Lopez and fashion illustration?  How fashion illustration was never a particular favorite genre of mine until I saw Joe Eula's drawings for Halston.  Well, never say never, because now I have fallen for the Swedish illustrator Mats Gustafson.

Mats Gustafson saw the work of Antonio Lopez when he was growing up in Sweden and it "triggered something in me that made me think I can do this".  And in 1978 he received a commission from Grace Coddington at British Vogue.

In the 1980s Gustafson moved to New York and started creating illustrated advertising campaigns for Romeo Gigli, Commes des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto.  (Those were the days!  Love all of those 80s pieces from Gigli, Commes, Yohji...)

Mats Gustafson for Romeo Gigli.  Vogue Italia. 1990

Mats Gustafson for Romeo Gigli.  Swimsuit.  1989

Mats Gustafson for Yohji Yamamoto.  Vogue Italia.  1999

And now Gustafson was commissioned by Raf Simons at the house of Dior to draw some of the pieces from Fall 2013 and Resort 2013 collections...  I will definitely be ordering the book Mats Gustafson Watercolors.

Dior by Mats Gustafson. 2014

Dior by Mats Gustafson.  2014

Dior by Mats Gustafson.  2014

love, kisses and vintage,  Juliana

The Dior is in the Details

What a beautiful show Raf Simons presented for Christian Dior!  I was just writing about the collaboration between artists and fashion designers and for the Autumn-Winter 2013 collection Raf Simons worked with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Viusual Arts and was inspired by Christian Dior's own interest in art and in particular surrealism.  And the result left me feeling like a bonafide surrealist:  full of yearning, desire and dreams...

Magritte's clouds floated above and around the runway:

Rene Magritte.  The Large Family 1947

Objects of desire.  Andy Warhol's A la recherche du shoe perdu drawings and Raf Simons for Dior.

"See a shoe and pick it up, all day long you will have good luck"

Andy Warhol.  From the series A la recherche du shoe perdu.  1955

Wonderful and whimsical:

A rose:

Is a rose

Is a rose

Salvador Dali.  Meditative Rose.  1958

Of dreams and memories

"Memory Dresses"

The night before.  A key.  A bouquet of flowers.  False eyelashes...

Sweet dreams...

The Quiet Man: Raf Simons for Christian Dior

In a bleu salon with walls completely blanketed in blue delphinium flowers

Raf Simons ushered in a new era for the House of Christian Dior with an elegant hush.  

I love, love, love this look.  I love the precision.  The understatement that is a statement in itself.  The chrome belt.  The embroidered shoes with the low heel.  So elegant.  You would have this forever...

Even a bit of embroidered frivolité was done with a quiet restraint.

Super chic

Feeling bleu 

A modern look for evening

And a nod to Monsieur Dior...

Breaking Fashion News! Raf Simons to Dior

66 years.  5 designers: Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano.  And now Raf Simons according to Cathy Horyn at the New York Times.  I think it is an inspired choice and it will be a breath of freshness after the fantasy and drama of John Galliano.  

Photo from Style.com from Raf Simmons final collection for Jil Sander

His first collection will be for the fall haute couture shows in July.  Talk about starting at the top!

Where to Raf?

Oh, how my mind does wander.  Where oh where can our brilliant Raf be going...  

Raf Simons announced that the fall 2012 will be his last show for Jil Sander.  Is Jil Sander returning to her namesake brand?  Will Raf Simmons become the creative director for Dior?  Stay tuned...

A major fashion moment.  Raf Simons for Jil Sander.  A simple tee and a neon bright peplumed skirt.  Classic couture.  Spring 2011.

Photo from Vogue.com