En Versailles, a ponerse "pasteles"

FASHION & STYLE

At Versailles: Let Them Wear Cake By CATHY HORYN Published: July 5, 2007

Jean-Luce Huré for The New York Times COMMANDING PERFORMANCE John Galliano conceived a silk sheath punctuated by a hand-painted hip rose for Dior's 60th anniversary at Versailles.

Paris ON Monday night, Dior gave a Bal des Artistes for nearly 3,000 guests at Versailles, where the designer John Galliano wore a beaded matador suit. On Tuesday, Chanel occupied a rain-soaked garden for its haute couture show, and on Wednesday night, Karl Lagerfeld was to give a party at his home. This weekend, Valentino has enough things planned for his 45th anniversary, in Rome, that it's a wonder he hasn't asked that the city be called Valentinoville. Some of the couture houses may have seen their revenues rise with the latest influx of new money — it's a reminder of the dimension of that wealth when a fashion executive here mildly refers to a "$500,000 customer" — but everyone knows that couture is an elaborate marketing tool. Profit is beside the point and given that Dior can spend $2 million on a show — before you add gypsies, fire eaters and caterers — it isn't even remotely attainable.

Jean-Luce Huré for The New York Times LIGHT AS AIR From Chanel, an evening dress in silk with silver panels

Couture is really a demonstration of corporate power, and, of course, ego, in a world that seems to increasingly demand it. Artistry and imagination are by no means secondary, especially at Chanel and Dior, but in a setting like Versailles, before an audience that includes media and entertainment figures (Harvey Weinstein, Pedro Almodóvar), these qualities also serve to invoke power. And the person who dominates the scene is Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which controls Dior and who was front and center with his family. In the midst of all this splendor, you could look at Mr. Galliano's over-the-top clothes and not see the struggles, the joys, the human elements that they shadow. The half English, half Spanish designer has been at Dior for 10 years. He created a climate of outrage. Seven years ago, in a show in which he stripped down Dior's look, clients sat on their hands in protest.

Jean-Luce Huré for The New York Times From Chanel, a dress with turquoise and gold embroidery.

But Mr. Galliano is very much a gypsy at heart, and to know a gypsy, you have to know his house, wherever it is. If Mr. Galliano has at times frustrated his bosses with his wayward imagination, one can only guess the havoc that it has played on his soul. Not every collection is great, but each is a reflection of an artistic mind, and that is what we have witnessed in the last decade. This last spring, Mr. Galliano lost his chief assistant, Steven Robinson, who died of heart failure. Mr. Robinson was a mixture of alter ego, friend and child to Mr. Galliano. Although it seemed to require an army of people to take the show, which included a choir and an orchestra, to Versailles, it's fair to say that Mr. Galliano was protecting his house. And home, in a sense, was Steven Robinson. As for the collection, based on how artists would have imagined Dior — a short white silk dress with a fabric rose dashed off like a René Gruau sketch, a jacket with a spree of Toulouse-Lautrec feathers — it felt at once exuberant and melancholic. In all those artistic poses that Mr. Galliano attempted to capture with shadow and drapery were real human dramas and emotions. Many of the clothes may have looked overpowering for mere mortals, and perhaps they are, but consider the source behind it. Would we prefer it to be less complex, less intense?

Jean-Luce Huré for The New York Times ON THE PROWL From Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, a leopard-print fur jacket, with leggings.

Mr. Lagerfeld is a different story. His training, his experience, come from another era. A self-described hit man, he has his affections, but few permanent attachments. His Chanel show was masterful — modern, somber, rich in its small details. He had the idea of designing the clothes from the perspective of a woman's profile, a relatively simple thought (isn't that a fashionista's favorite pose?) that he found endless ways to explore. There was a striking black coatdress with square gold paillettes streaking down the sides, and a lovely black sleeveless dress with silvery panels. To a brown tweed coat with wide elbow-length sleeves, he added a dense swath of feathers. In jackets, the side effect was achieved by the way the back and the front met, in a kind of pleat. He continued the theme for evening, though more loosely, with a silvery dress trailed by a multilayered white chiffon cape embroidered with crystals and a long demure gown in pale blue silk with a tight bodice and a creamy underskirt. As the models were lining up in their first outfits, their heads smooth in lace knights' caps, Mr. Lagerfeld glanced out at the light rain falling on the canopy that covered the runway. "Time to go swimming," he said. By the time the bride, in a transparent feathered sheath, had made her turn, her veil was half brown.

François Guillot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images STAR COUNCIL John Galliano at the Dior show, with Linda Evangelista, left, Naomi Campbell, center, and Gisele Bündchen.

Riccardo Tisci is relatively new to haute couture. His first collections for Givenchy added up to heavy weather. You had the feeling that, as expressive and energetic as they were, he took himself too seriously. He couldn't break out of his youthful gloomy outlook. On Tuesday, though, Mr. Tisci sent out his best collection. Fitted jackets in leopard-print fur, with matching leggings and boots, were kooky enough to be engaging. The oversize '60s-era domed caps added to the high drama. There were sexy black dresses nestled under fat fur jackets (a helpless-looking proportion we now associate with the Olsen sisters) and a beautiful black silk satin dress with a single exaggerated sleeve. You suspect the influence of Nicolas Ghesquiere, and maybe Alexander McQueen, but you can also see why young women gravitate to Mr. Tisci's raw style.

François Guillot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images John Galliano's embroidered gray wool suit.

Copyright by the New York Times 2007