Fashion Forward

I went to see the Paris Collections 2007 last month at the MFA and while some of the clothing was ho-hum boring, and some of it was just plain dumb, the majority of it was amazing. As someone who has been sewing since childhood, I was more than interested to get a really close look at what a $200,000+, one-off piece of couture clothing looks like, and what it looks like beyond it's overall beauty. (I have never in my life looked up the skirts of that many dresses before!) Gotta tell ya, in a great many instances, I wasn't all that impressed. Beautiful to look at, yes, some stains from the models being jostled around in the changing areas (champagne spills? make-up splotches? who knows?), but shoddy stitching and straight pins sewn in by accident? Hmm. Makes you think.

True, there were some pieces that were absolutely exquisite and from which I simply was unable to tear myself away. John Galliano for Christian Dior: his ode to a punk/goth French Revolution and Marie Antoinette collection in reds, pinks, leathers and liberally hand painted was amazing. And the Rochas collection of pantsuits and dresses reminiscent of Edwardian England and utilizing the colors of London's chimney sweeps of the day: dove grays, blacks, browns, subdued gray-purples and gray-blues just blew me away. This was far and away my favorite of the entire exhibit. Bustled and corseted gowns, yet surprisingly still modern in their lines. Moody appliques of dozens of crows sitting on tiny lines criss-crossing the skirt of a dress.

I wish I were wealthy enough to be able to have one of these creations made for me and sitting in my very own closet. The show was definitely an eye opener and I not only learned just about everything I would want to know about the exclusive world of couture clothing, but also the fact that, with the exception of a few very, very complicated pieces that were clearly well beyond my expertise in sewing, even with a hefty price tag, a fancy name and a heady week at Paris runway shows that only people who are Somebody get to attend, the majority of these frighteningly expensive pieces were things that were I so inclined I could easily sew for myself. I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised by this fact, but I was. Does this mean that like all the other fashion sheep, I bought into the myth and mystique of the designer mind? That's a scary thought.

And last but not least, just to be sure I'm legally in the clear and not in line to be gifted with a "hey, you stole my photo!" law suit, this photo of Galliano's magnificent dresses is courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Credit where credit is due. Thanks, guys.