On the bank of the Neva.
The Hussar is gorgeous, nonchalantly leaning on a column, his
suit
flawless, his attitude respectfully conquering. You notice in
him a
clever mix of barbarity and sophistication. Next to him a woman,
an
empress, Catherine the Second (the Great Catherine) of Russia,
big by
her political power but also by her power of seduction. All of
this in a
black and white movie, that is the inspiration of the second Couture
collection. A village orchestra, violins that make the soul of
the Lady
with a Small Dog cry, extraordinary hairstyles by Monsieur Alexandre,
make ups from FrΘdΘric Farrugia for the burning eyes of a princess
in
distress, the Conciergerie that saw the death on the scaffold
of a
bucolic queen which became, for the time of a runway show, an
imperial
datcha lit by numerous candles underlining its magnificence.
Romanesque and animal, using all the contrast between the barbarity
and
the sophistication, this collection tells the story of a woman
who is
both modern and multiple. She loves everything under the condition
that
it has personality, style, elegance. First the cut which makes
the bust
short, the waist high, the fullness decisive on the hips, the
roundness
of the back. Second the materials always enjoying the sliding
and
rasping affects, that light noise so feminine in its movement.
The
taffeta, the faille, the silks, the furs, the stretch mix of modernity,
all is there for a drawing room wardrobe. Proust ? No. Rather
Pouchkine.
The beauty of the effigy, the imminence of drama. The daylight
sketching
the body, coats with a rounded back, straight and wide pants,
stretch
fitted dress open on a leg clad in colour and diamond shoulder
braid.
The evening takes on fullness and plays with the oniric splendours
of a
make-believe imperial court propelled into the 90's. The craftsman
work
on the embroideries, the sequins and frogs, the work of a colourist
on a
seduced Moujik fur-lined coat (there are men in all of Jean-Paul
GAULTIER's shows), diamond rivieres on men suits, the skin of
a panther
from faraway lands entirely embroidered as a queen's apron on
a faille
dress. Animal again, these fitted velvet dresses or the one that
one
wears for religious meetings, absoo abso, absolutely black, an
embroidered and sequined icon opening on the bosom.
The splendours of imperial courts can be found here but reinvented
for
today : materials and cuts using the modern technologies, the
attitude
different, the bearing more playfull. The extravagance is here
honoured,
that of a fit of madness, to renew with the eternal femine without
concessions.