Paris, March 04:: As if the fashion world hasn’t had enough to digest in recent days, with the sacking of Dior designer John Galliano over allegations he hurled anti-Semitic comments, mega-star Lady Gaga added to the insanity, making a bumping and grinding modeling debut at Mugler’s fall-winter 2011-12 ready-to-wear show on Wednesday.
Dressed in a sheer black top and painted-on pencil skirt, Gaga drew on her wealth of experience with extreme footwear and managed to negotiate the towering platform shoes better than some of the models.
Her catwalk performance — which included plenty of crotch grabbing a la Michael Jackson and saw her pole dance around one of the columns on the mock cathedral set in an apparent homage to Madonna — even managed to eclipse the constant Galliano chatter, sole topic of conversation at the Paris shows.
The scandal began Thursday, when the designer was detained and questioned about accusations he made anti-Semitic insults at a couple in a Parisian cafe. Other complaints and followed and a damning video — in which an apparently inebriated Galliano slurs “I love Hitler” — went viral on the internet.
Dior’s response was swift and unequivocal. After 15 years with the company, Dior sacked Galliano on Tuesday.
The case continued to develop throughout Wednesday, providing industry insiders a constant stream of fodder for gossip and speculation. The Paris prosecutors office announced Galliano is to stand trial, while the designer issued an apology.
Hilary Alexander of Britain’s Daily Telegraph spoke for many in the fashion world, commenting she “pray(ed Galliano) has the strength to survive, and to keep strong, and know there are still many, many people who love him and remember the poetic moments that were the best of his work.” She called the debacle a “horrific morality tale of the cyber age” and a “tragedy of gigantic proportions.” Paris’ marathon nine-day-long displays move into day three on Thursday, with shows by US designers Rick Owens and Zac Posen, as well as every jet-setting party girl’s favorite brand, Balmain. Here’s hoping the label’s sky-high hemlines and skintight bustier dresses give everyone something else to talk about, besides Galliano.
If the singing thing doesn’t pan out, Lady Gaga can always fall back on modeling. The pop-shock sensation’s high-impact debut proved she’s got the stuff to make it in the cruel world of fashion.
Legions of fans mobbed the show’s venue, a gym in a working-class neighborhood in eastern Paris, hoping for a glimpse of the singer. It was clear that many of the industry insiders also made the trip into the fashion backwater exclusively for Gaga — who’d announced she’d be walking in the show on her Twitter account the day before.
And she didn’t disappoint. Bursting in halfway through the show with a formidable contingent of bodyguards, Gaga hopped onto the stage — ahem, the catwalk — and struck no-holds-barred poses in front of the even more formidable pack of photographers. She puffed on a cigarette, blowing clouds of smoke toward them and then was off: bumping, grinding and strutting her way backstage, only to emerge in an all-white ensemble topped off by a lampshade hat.
It was a blockbuster performance, er, show. Indeed Gaga looked more comfortable than many of the models, who had trouble embracing the nasty girl role they’d been told to play. Their tiger growls at the cameras flopped, their gyrations were forced — and Gaga stood out as the A-grade performer she is.
The clothes themselves weren’t much better than the (professional) models. It was like Sebastien Peigne, who designed the collection under Gaga’s stylist and Mugler’s new creative director, Nicola Formichetti, was taking his cue from the how-to manual for a label hoping to spark buzz.
Painted on vinyl pants? Check.
High-waisted latex skirt paired with a sheer blouse and nothing underneath? Check.
Leopard print bodystockings? Check.
Nothing revolutionary, or even mildly surprising, really.
The venue was almost completely dark, but the Belgian designer’s colorblock dresses, in eye-popping prints and high-wattage lame, lit up the stately hall.
Noten’s magpie eye and flair for color have won him critical praise and a loyal customer base, but the Antwerp-based wonder outdid himself with Wednesday’s collection, a tour de force that showcased his intuitive feeling for fabrics — which is nearly unparalleled in the business.
He sent out drop-waisted sheathdresses in a patchwork of orange, and electric blue silks printed with liquid swirls that were full of surprises: A swath of shimmering sequins or lustrous lame that dressed up a single sleeve, or an unexpected graphic black and white panel, visible only when the model turned her back.
Ultra-wide-legged trousers were paired with cropped jackets in satin brocade, lined at the lapel with black astrakhan. The translucent plastic-heeled booties made sharp clacking noises on the wooden catwalk, a gilded ballroom at Paris City Hall.
There was a vaguely ‘70s feel about the collection, but it was less of a recognizable influence than a suggestion — a mere hint. Really, the collection was pure, unadulterated Dries.
It had the dreamy quality of a well-choreographed sleepwalk.
The models at the Carven display wove in and out six identical doors, negotiating wooden stairs that looked like an accident waiting to happen with glassy-eyed aplomb.
In shrunken toggle coats and short, pouffy skirts, the models had a sort of retro ingenue quality and looked like adolescent Catherine Deneuves playing provincial girls freshly arriving in bustling Paris.
“We started from the idea of a young woman going off to college. She’s young, she’s fresh, full of desire to learn and study,” designer Guillaume Henry, a 32-year-old Frenchman who was in his fourth season for the storied brand, told The Associated Press in a backstage interview.
“There’s also a touch of postwar frugality, with the mini sizes that look like the clothes that young women actually wore during World War II, when they just had to make due.” Henry paired the snug coats with high-waisted shorts or sweet little-girl dresses in pleated silk or red and blue tartan. For the evening, his ingenues sported bubble skirts in lustrous taffeta with velvet bras topped off, for modesty’s sake, by boiled wool blazers.
Rochas was channeling “Mad Men,” but somehow the retro silhouettes felt very last season.
Designer Marco Zanini’s signature ‘50’s-inspired style, steeped in ladylike naivete, was spot-on in the fashion zeitgeist last season, but is now looking a bit stale.
For fall, Zanini served up sheath dresses in fuzzy mohair, A-line silk skirts and the swingy maxi coats that were pretty but lacked the je-ne-sais-quoi that has made his collections buzz in seasons past. They were simply a bit flat, with nothing terribly original and none of the whimsical, zany prints that have made similar cuts feel fresh in the past.
One particularly sour note was the lingerie gown in pastel satin with built-in underwire cups that shriveled emptily at the rail-thin models’ bust.
The single most striking element were the astrakhan hats, dramatic toques with a crease down the middle, that matched the models’ navy, gray and mauve outfits.
Still, it was easy to imagine that Wednesday’s collection would prove commercially successful, despite the fact that the retro wave broke over Paris last season. As long as “Mad Men” keeps churning out retro-fabulous looks, the public’s appetite for pouffy skirts and ladylike coats will undoubtedly continue unabated.
Zanini is surely crossing his fingers the hit show doesn’t get canceled.
Doma refined and sharpened his tribal silhouette, sending out long, lean pantsuits and elaborately folded coats with an Eastern twist instead of the bulky, monastic fare of seasons past.
The young Croatian-born designer burst onto the Paris fashion scene several seasons ago, and his raw, sometimes Medieval aesthetic has garnered considerable critical praise. Wednesday’s collection managed to give his signature look a sleek, sophisticated overhaul, without sacrificing his trademark primeval core.
Short skirts were fitted with long rectangular flaps, like table runners, in front and elongated blazers with cocoon sleeves were worn with black biker shorts in nubby cotton.
The collection was dominated by black but shot through with big cat spots and warm cocoa shades. A suit in saffron silk, with wide sleeves and pajama pants, evoked the robes of Thailand’s Buddhist monks.
Their heads wrapped in what looked like bits of fishnet stockings and lips lacquered a glossy black, Doma’s models incarnated the designer’s newfound sophistication.
——–Agencies