The 10 Most (and Least) Oscar-Worthy Gowns from Haute Couture Fashion Week

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

As many a starlet is aware, looks don’t always translate well from the runway to the red carpet. Nowhere is this more true than in haute couture. Sure, this gown costs $35,000, was constructed by a team of half-blind old ladies whose skills are so specialized they can be classified as endangered species and contains actual diamonds, but Joan Rivers still thinks you look like a refugee from some drag queen concentration camp. No, events like the Oscars require a little discretion and the simpler you keep it, the better. Of course, there are exceptions, but not every actress is a Charlize Theron, a Cate Blanchett, a Nicole Kidman or a Tilda Swinton — risk-takers who can pull off haute couture with the greatest of ease. For the rest of ‘em, here are 10 safe gowns sure to please along with 10 only the brave of soul and intrepid of style should even consider.

Christian Dior Spring 2012 Haute Couture an Exercise in “Sheer” Boredom

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

Bill Gaytten and the hardworking hands of the Christian Dior atelier returned this haute couture season with a much more subdued collection than last fall’s largely-derided offering. Trading in silly headpieces and deafeningly loud prints for cleaner silhouettes and a sedate color palette of largely whites, greys and blacks, the aesthetic pendulum swung rather violently. The storied house has also adopted the industry-wide obsession with sheer panels and overlays, already brought to its perfect zenith by Givenchy seasons ago. Still present, however, was the classic Dior New Look shape of  a cinched waist and a full skirt. While this haute couture collection was a deliberately safer outing for the still-creative-director-less Dior, it understandably and inevitably came off more than just a little boring. Gaytten and co. have yet to strike the right balance between the house’s glorious past and the fantastical places John Galliano took it during his legendary reign. But at least they got one thing right: Karlie Kloss was back opening the show. If you want a strong start, there’s no better hoofer in the game. Check out some highlights — and a few lowlights —  from Christian Dior’s spring 2012 haute couture show after the jump!

Miss Havisham Haunts in Haute Couture for Vogue Italia

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

Ever since Prabal Gurung sent Karlie Kloss stalking down the runway in his much-lauded Great Expectations-inspired fall 2011 collection, fashion has been noticeably obsessed with the decrepit glamour of that story’s ill-fated villainess, Miss Havisham. Still in her wedding gown yellow with age, Miss Havisham wastes away in her attic for years mourning her unrequited love and inflicts her cruelty on everyone unlucky enough to be around her. Think Anna Wintour if she was unemployed. Ah, but pain, sadness, insanity and a dress: that character has editorial written all over it. And for Vogue Italia‘s September couture supplement, Dickens’ demonic diva is once again referened in Paolo Roversi‘s hauntingly beautiful “The Haute Couture” starring Frida Gustavsson, Jac Jagaciak and Kristina Salinovic with styling by Lori Goldstein. 

INDIE NEWSROOM: Well Someone’s Not Getting Another Vogue Cover (Thankfully)…Vogue Italia’s Couture Supplement Cover…The Ins & Outs and Ups & Downs of Catwalking

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

- Anna Wintour may finally, much like the rest of the world, be over Sienna Miller. Thanks to some car trouble, Sienna was a half an hour late to buddy Matthew Williamson’s fashion show. The designer foolishly kindly held the show for her, much to the chagrin of the Bobbed One who was seconds away from storming out and burning down the designer’s entire spring line. [Metro UK]

Iris Van Herpen: Haute Couture Requires Blueprints

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

As we enter this month of Art and Architecture at FashionIndie, we must discuss further a young designer who has elevated the notion of couture. Iris van Herpen creates a synergy between the finest handiwork and the technologically advanced. For this collection shown in Paris as part of Haute Couture fashion week, Capriole, she worked with architect Isaie Bloch and MGX to create 3D prints which were then translated into textiles. What resulted is function that follows the most stunning form from which all else stems.

She also happened to intern with Alexander McQueen. Behold.

There are Haute Couture Fashion Collections and then…There is Azzedine Alaïa

Edited by Benjamin Kanarek

From Benjamin Kanarek Blog

My expectations for the last Haute Couture Fashion Week shown in Paris at the beginning of July, was not of the kind that I thought would leave a lasting impression. 

Greatest, Strangest and Worst-est of Fall 2011 Haute Couture

Edited by Lester Brathwaite

Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week has come to a close and while there were some exhilarating highs, there were also some god-awful lows and everything in between. Here are assembled the best and the rest of the Fall 2011 couture season.

Christian Dior’s Tres Belle Russe Couture Museum Exhibition Grandiose Opening

Edited by Jessica Lapidos

“Christian Dior is the best way to transmit the values and culture of France,” proclaimed Bernard Arnault, chief of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, on Tuesday night at the grand opening of a lavish Dior exhibition in Russia. I see someone’s trying to wipe clean the memory of a recent incident in which Dior might not have been the best representation of French ideals… Regardless, it was a stunning night of beautiful fashionites, plus many art buffs for their first time get an emotional taste of the artistry of Haute Couture.