Sunday, May 6, 2012

If not now, then when?

Is it just me or is there a deathly silence enveloping the world of style? I'm looking and listening and all I'm getting is white noise. White noise from a bunch of noisy (white) people. When I was a kid we had a cleaning lady who was supposed to come once a week. Though my mother, who was a school principal and always at school and or at meetings set a weekly schedule, Mrs. Gaudet would come when she felt like it. Often she would appear at odd hours with 3 of her many kids and let them amuse themselves any way they pleased. They'd rifle through the drawers in our bedrooms, tug clothes off of hangers and play dress up, but mostly they liked to go through the refrigerator taking out food and eating it or more often than not hide it in unlikely places throughout the house. I remember coming across sticks of butter melted and rancid on the floor behind the stereo cabinet. Other hiding places were equally mystifying but always creative; in shoes, under beds and sometimes under the covers of beds. I thought those kids were just being annoying. It wasn't until much later it occurred to me they might be hungry and were stashing food to come back and unearth later like squirrels. These feral little boys and girls were my first taste of the grasping, desperate world laying in wait for me. Still we joked that we were forever 'waiting for Gaudet'... I feel the same lately wondering when something of real interest is going to happen in our chosen world of fashion. I swear I've watched the paint dry and now it's beginning to chip and peel away.

My thoughts drift to Avenue Montaigne and the goings on behind the pearl grey walls of Christian Dior. So much noise came from so many corners demanding the head of Bill Gaytten who did an admirable and masterful job of keeping the balls in the air. It annoyed me to no end that the press was snapping at his face, forget his tail, that he was bringing down the house, was only a lowly pattern maker and damning Dior to a limbo land of Purgatory; not heaven and not quite hell. It annoyed me so much I felt unable to comment, but instead turned my back and walked away. Then Jil Sander did the unspeakable and tossed Raf Simons from his perch and into the butterfly net of Bernard Arnaud. No doubt the new age of Dior under his direction will be an interesting and compelling story. I hope for his sake that the thirsting hordes give him a moment to find his voice amid the cacophony of yammering experts; the elite media to coin a truly idiotic phrase. Personally, I wonder why he would want to go swimming in shark infested waters after having just been bitten. How perfect it would have been for the House that Simons built than setting up house in a still cordoned off crime scene. But what do I know? The irony in all of this is that the numbers are up at Dior during Bill Gaytten's tenure and a glamorous new video "The Secret Garden" has just aired built around his exquisite pre-fall collection. He gets my congratulations and sympathy. It's a thankless world out there. Don't get me wrong, I'm like many of you all goose bumps over the final collection for Sander that Raf created. It was one of the most elegant and moving collections anywhere in a long time. It carries more currency than the cost of doing business in the stultifying world of LVMH. I've always been wary of answered prayers.

If one looks back on the recent history of Dior there have been some very high moments that pale against the hyperbole of today. Marc Bohan may have been a bit of a snooze after Saint Laurent was dismissed but he took the house into the next phase of its growth and prosperity. Gianfranco Ferre was the revolutionary after the Bohan years of peace and prosperity. That reign was all too short before the scissors were handed to Galliano. After years of collections that not only took us back to a time of extraordinary excess and a recalibration of what the couture can and might become, it all came to a screeching halt. Now we live in a time of heart stopping dullness where no news is the big story. If you care about Linda Evangelista's child support trial, the invitation list of the Costume Institute Ball or Amanda Brooks' plans for her exile in the English countryside, then there's a feast just waiting for you to gorge on. I need something with a little more substance. Someone wake me when the credits roll.

images courtesy of Pinterest...except for my portrait.




9 comments:

Joy said...

yesss! i concur.

Anonymous said...

Well, is it because FASHION now is a dirty word ??
A word not attached anymore to what it used to mean ?
What happened tonight in Europe reminds us of the fragility of our US economy, as we could get kicked down from our fragile perch at anytime...These our difficult times. Meanwhile nervous smoking chinese are waiting in line at Louis Vuitton to purchase a purse, symbol of a luxury that no longer exists in those houses. Luxury has left the building a long time ago !
I am interested in Hedi Slimane at YSL, he has been on long sabbatical , lets see what he has to say...But you know....YSL, Dior, Lanvin, Balanciaga, all the same, who cares really...Lets develop our own style and lets send all the koolaid drinking Fashion bloggers to the guillotine !
Spirou

Anonymous said...

You want a good Fashion laugh , watch the Met Gala with Marc Jacob arriving in a lace dress with white boxer under it.
http://www.ashadedviewonfashion.com
Then scroll down a bit.
Your writing is more interesting than Fashion, so keep on writing about Mrs Gaudet, your trips, your house, your friends as it is what matters .
Spirou

Anonymous said...

Mr Della Valle will revive the Shiaparelli name, a name he owns since 2006 says Cathy Horn in the times,interesting article...
Will you throw your name in the hat ?
Spirou

Anonymous said...

Interesting interview from Lemaire at Hermes about fashion at http://www.ashadedviewonfashion.com
Refreshing.

Annagamm said...

We're missing you! ? ! ?
Please keep our networking hub moving forward.
Sure, you're all into the summer house transition now.
Me too, on Fire Island and Miami in September.
Still missing you though!
Where have all the fashion flowers gone?
Blown in the wind......

Anonymous said...

heidi Slimane will show his first collection for Saint Laurent in October. That is exiting. He has promised a return to the " old way " A return of the " marque originale" 'bringing back the house of Saint Laurent to its purety, essence and truth ". He wishes to take it, in this new area, where Yves' principles and originales ideas will be respected " Ok, I hope Berger does not shoot him down, but Heidi is from the same birth place as Saint Laurent, so maybe he has got a chance...This interests me a lot....Heidi kicks ass !
Spirou

Anonymous said...

Fluff has run away and joined the circus?

Anonymous said...

Komon !!!!!!!!!Give us something ! Milan and Paris are on, what do you think ?