>> I've just counted. I will have notched up one hundred and fifty shows and presentations over the course of New York, London, Milan and Paris, not including the numerous appointments/resees. That's a lot of bolts of fabric I've seen. Truth be told, there are collections that I simply don't remember at this point, partly due to my brain fogged up by the seasonal cold and partly because some shows just haven't made a significant contribution to the fashion agenda.
The final moments of Paris are playing out. Despite my penchant for fashion newbies, there's no getting away from the fact that the biggie shows of these final days of fashion month really DO seal the whole month up, giving the season a heavyweight bookend that stays with you for years to come. For this season, it had to be this trio of blooming dresses from the Alexander McQueen show, which just finished up hours ago. There was much to be joyous about in the rest of the collection, but the final three flutters of crinoline-skirted chiffon apparitions was precisely the right sort of pick-me-up to excite and enchant cold-ridden folk like me. These cascades of flowers in primrose yellow, poppy red and baby's breath white were meant to summarise Sarah Burton's vision of Queen bees, femininity and sensuality. Bees flocking to the dresses in their thousands would have been the sort of showmanship that Lee McQueen might have attempted. Instead Burton let the blooms do the talking and on the runway and in person, it was quite astonishing how the flowers looked like they were actually coming to life on the dresses as they fluttered about on the diaphanous skirt, structured with crinoline framework.
No, these dresses don't fit into any of the trend boxes that we've seen popping up - graphicism, monochrome, flat plains rendered into garments - and thank goodness for that. They're for schmucks like me who every now and again need to take unfettered pleasure in beauty, without the need to analyse whether or not they fit in with the pervasive silhouettes/colours/textures or how many units that piece will shift on the sales floor. There are in truth, few that can get away with such unabashed frou-frou and make it look convincing but it's Burton and her team McQueen's handiwork on these dresses, that proves to be irresistable to my reddening eyes. And my blocked nose. And my sore achey throat. Moan over. Just enjoy the flou and frou...
