Photo: Marcio Madeira / FirstView.com
PARIS, June 25, 2010

Rei Kawakubo's macabre show for Comme des Garçons used one theme—the skull. She combined the motif with a black and white checkerboard pattern, then used that graphic combination in many shapes and sizes: in a traditional memento mori engraving printed on jackets, as photographic multiples printed on shirts, or cartoonishly exaggerated into floaty little alien heads. It was like she was creating a new floral.

Skulls were cut out of shoes and painted onto the back of the models' heads. And even as she abstracted it onto demure fifties-style full skirts and fitted jackets, she never downplayed the power of the subject. It was hard not be reminded of Alexander McQueen's final menswear show, with its images of piles of skulls, and some of that darker element was here. A black leather jacket cut into lattice over a black and white striped shirt created an effect like prison bars. And the only color Kawakubo used was blood red.

Paris, July 6th, 2010

Think organza, silk and tulle in a dramatic 'bouquet' of block colours: mandarin, violet, canary yellow and saturated red, accompanied by playful soft shades of rose pink and sky blue. For this collective John Galliano took inspiration from the cliff top garden of “Les Rhumbs” - the childhood home of Christian Dior in Granville, Normandy.

Models heads were wrapped in coloured cellophane, their waists tied with textured ribbons, as though they themselves were bouquets of flowers. Tulips, exotic orchids, hydrangeas, roses and delphiniums; they were all recreated for the runway, with billowing skirts and striking silhouettes. The collection overall seemed to exude a lot more wearability than what you would usually expect with Galliano's approach to couture, and it seemed to pay homage to the old-style glamour of classic Dior.

Couture is the most expensive and prestigious fashion in the world - with a standard couture gown priced around 40 000 dollars.

Designers are often dismissed for the time, money and manpower that goes into creating pieces that only cater to an exclusive audience of 200 people internationally - the luxuriously wealthy mainly from Russia, the Middle East and Asia. It is considered an investment - like buying a piece of art from a great living artist.