Senin, 17 Maret 2008

Ripping the Collections: Christian, Part 2




This was another look that drew gasps from the crowd - and rightfully so. No, of course it's not "wearable" in the sense that the average woman would ever attempt this look, but it's a stunningly dramatic statement. She cut quite a figure walking down that runway. Love the side zippers on the pants and of course we love the gigantic neck ruffle. We love the idea of the hat, but strangely, this hat looked cheap and poorly made. A rare instance where Christian didn't follow through on the execution.


Love it. A great silhouette. Love the sheer shoulders. Do not love the giant visible zipper. We don't know what he was going for there and he did it more than once.


If Rami's gold antique lace looked Elizabethan, then this looked like something her father would have worn. It's not our favorite look in the collection by a long shot but it certainly fits. We just think Princess overdid the puffysleeves-over-puffysleeves look here. Plus, we're not all that crazy about the color of that tunic. As we said, the look fits the collection, but at the same time it feels slightly incongruous.


Y'know, looking at the previous look and then looking at this one, we have to say that Christian might just have as much of a problem with color as Rami does. It is, thankfully, not black and we do like the addition of the cream elements to the collection, but the color of the pants doesn't work well with the color of the top. Also, to use Michael Kors' technical term, the crotch on those pants is "insane." Despite that, we do love the look. Believe it or not, we think it demonstrates Christian's version of "restraint." It's exuberant and dramatic, but somehow he was able to utilize feathers and gigantic ruffles and make something that looks almost...wearable.


We're in slight disagreement on this one. Lorenzo thinks it looks a little Cruella De Vil, but it's Tom's favorite look in the whole collection. Christian obviously isn't that big on dresses, this being one of only three in the entire collection. Of the three, this was the most beautiful, in our opinion.



This, on the other hand, is a piece of work. Literally. We can applaud the workmanship and the vision that created it, but it's just too much. We don't see any restraint here at all and we think the look could have benefited from some editing. On the one hand, it was the most dramatic look in the collection and it garnered the most applause, deservedly so. On the other hand, once you get over your initial shock and really look at it, it's ...well, it's kind of heavy and ugly.

In the end, Christian put on not just an amazing show, but the most amazing show any PR contestant ever put together. This was the closest any PR designer has ever come to mounting a true couture show and that, more than anything else, is what probably got him the win.

By way of criticism, we share Nina's point of view that there were far too many of the same looks coming down that runway and we share Michael's point that there was far too much black. To both of those critiques we would add that, as dramatic as this collection was, it was fairly derivative of looks we've seen before, mainly from British designers like Westwood, Galliano and McQueen, who are clearly Christian's Holy Trinity of design inspirations.

And that's fine. Fashion is as much about recycling looks as it is about finding new ones. Christian didn't get the win because he made things no one ever saw before. He got the win because he demonstrated a flair and an intense point of view that hints at great things to come when he matures a little bit. As we've said before, he wouldn't have been our pick for the win, but we are truly happy with the judges' choice and we think it made perfect sense. We're going to see more of him in the future. Count on it.

More up close pictures here:



And don't forget, Kittens, there were two other collections that walked that runway even if you didn't see them on your TV screens. Come back later because Chris and Sweet P get the Rungay treatment and our comments section is sure to explode with indignation and outrage.

[Photos: WireImage/ Getty Images/Elle.com - Photoslide: Projectrungay.blogspot.com]


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