Reminiscence: Galliano for Christian Dior #3 - S/S 2008 Haute Couture

S/S 2008 is definitely one of my favorite seasons from Christian Dior haute couture show; how can't it be anyway? Channeling the subtle sensuality and scandal of John Singer Sargent's infamous portrait of society beauty Madame X, the collection was just rolled on along as a visual treat. The colors! The lightness! The embroidery! It was magical. Technicolour treat of ruffles and virtuoso twists of satins, taffetas and lavish embroidery sauntered past on the world's highest heels: it screamed luxe, luxe, luxe! I love it so much that in fact, I just realized I had actually created a post of this collection before. Does it deserve a second post anyway? Hell yeah, absolutely.

Reminiscence: Galliano for Christian Dior #2 - F/W 07.08 Haute Couture

This season John Galliano was influenced by the romantic, drawing on French painters and photographers, Spanish bullfighters and Dior's famous nip-waisted, full-skirted 1947 New Look. The first time around, the New Look spawned post-World War II street protests against the designer's conspicuous use of fabric. Now, 25 meters of silk is a God-given right.

The show began in black and white with a Jean Cocteau pen-and-ink portrait on the bodice of a ball gown, and a white bustier dress swirled into a hand-painted pink rose at the waist. What followed was a color explosion, each look more delightful than the last — a pink trompe l'oeil column dress outlined in brushstrokes, Picasso's harlequin suit done in soft pastels, a fiery crimson dress embroidered in gold like matador's costume.

It was over the top, certainly, but not too much so, a true marriage of Galliano's sense of theater and the house's ladylike elegance.

Reminiscence: Galliano for Christian Dior #1 - S/S 2003 Haute Couture

With John Galliano in charge at Christian Dior, more is most definitely always more. Inspired by his recent travels to China and Japan, the vivid colors and patterns of Chinese costume and Japanese kimonos got transformed into some of the hugest clothes ever invented for Christian Dior S/S 2003 couture show. Weeping, multicolored volumes of fabric that mixed East and West, ancient and modern, were showcased amid appearances from Chinese dancers and circus performers. Models, who were almost completely submerged in cocooning swaths of brocade, taffeta and exploding chiffon flounces, teetered along on vertiginous platforms.