LANVIN: DEAN L. MERCERON

The other day I was perusing various books on Amazon and came across Lanvin by Dean L. Merceron. This is the wonder of the internet, that I can stumble across something and develop an interest I can immediately bring into real life by requesting it through my local library! MAGIC.

Anyhow, I picked it up from the library on Sunday and have since been feasting on a visual cornucopia.

I am following somewhat of a policy of honesty on this blog so here is a note: I have yet to completely read the book, in a manner of speaking. It's divided into several sections like Clientele (which is itself divided into things like Bride and Debutante), Inspiration & Symbolism (Familial, Catholic), and Lanvin Craftsmanship. The text is small and crammed with verbose descriptions of workmanship, history, and direction. Although very detailed and very interesting, I couldn't help but skim.

Because this is the equivalent of a drool-worthy grown-up picture book.



The book concentrates on the life and inspiration of Jeanne Lanvin herself, the mastermind and founder behind Maison Lanvin. It chronicles her journey from millinery in the early 1900s through to children's clothing and then women's couture by the 1920s. I was surprised at how little I knew about an amazing woman dedicated to the finest details of her craft. Considering my undying love for Alber Elbaz and his work, I was blown away by everything mentioned about Lanvin and her life that I didn't know a thing about.



The greatest understanding Merceron was able to convey to me was Lanvin's place in the world she lived in. She was designing at the same time as Chanel and Vionnet; in the 20s women embraced their empowerment through dress. Coco Chanel may be the most well-known story of those times today (think about it - how many Chanel quotes do you find on girls' blogs and Facebook pages?). But Lanvin was in a category all her own.

Although Jean Patou and Gabrielle Chanel introduced a new sportswear sensibility to high fashion that came to characterize the century, Lanvin, unlike the designers who preceded her or were her true contemporaries (both Patou and Chanel were over a decade younger than Lanvin), was able to present not only a convincing alternative to the industrial modernism of her younger colleagues with her emphatic but rarely cloying romanticism ... a paradoxical mix of sophistication and charm. It was a potent combination that a woman might desire for herself. Even at her sleekest, the Lanvin woman never conveyed the hard chic of Chanel. The air of prettiness created in the Lanvin ateliers of tailleur and flou reflected a gentler ideal of elegance.

from introduction by Harold Koda




Is it any wonder that I want to be a Lanvin girl? Full of glossy photos, this book kills me with detail shots and dress sketches from the ateliers of Lanvin's empire. And while I also have a certain perpetual longing to be a Chanel girl, anyone can admit that the brand Chanel brings up images of prim tweed suits, the woman with direction and very high heels. Lanvin, on the other hand, designed for French women who wanted empowerment and who lived for the elegance of someone who knows who they are, but brought in an element of feminine beauty like a tiny breeze from foreign places. Lanvin actually also covers interesting thoughts on her foreign influences - she was a woman of travel and loved Asia and the Middle East. Combined with a nostalgic sweetness borrowed heavily from styles of the 1700s, sewn together with painstaking hand-stitched embroidery and beading, every piece photographed is a marvel. The author himself gives wonderful insight into the details shown. It really is too bad that I was so distracted by the gorgeous visuals!



The above dress may be one of my favourites shown in the book, and its clean lines but decorated detail are a perfect example of the Lanvin aesthetic: pretty, frothy, but sleek and modern enough for the new post-20s woman. Um, not to mention that it is RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS. Just saying.



I'm also very much drawn to Lanvin's creations due to the motifs that Merceron discusses - including, of course, the beloved Lanvin bow. He writes some very, very interesting commentary on a wedding dress Lanvin designed that featured pomegranate embroidery as a metaphor - now that is what I adore about fashion and couture as art.



As I said before, I have undying love for Alber Elbaz, so I was very pleased with his foreword and the part written by Merceron about his own contribution to making the Lanvin label what it is now after decades of dormancy. There's a good chunk of the book dedicated to Lanvin under Elbaz, in the form of several full-spread photographs from the runway and from photoshoots with his work. It's also very pretty, though after several hundred pages of vintage attention to detail, detail shots of the overt modern simplicity of his design do disappoint a little bit. The best part of the Elbaz section, hands-down, are his sketches - some might call them abstractions of the female form, I say that his sketches are reminiscent of a child's but that just makes me adore him even more!



See? ADORABLE.

all images from Lanvin by Dean L. Merceron. Further credits for individual photos can be found in the book itself.

Here are my parting words regarding Lanvin. If you like fashion and even if you "just like art", you need to pick it up and take a read. If you have money, buy it on Amazon. If you don't (like me), go to the library and see if you can find it. It's beautiful and informative and just so lovely and inspiring that I don't have the words. You don't see anything quite like vintage couture in the world today.

much love,
Kai

DIOR, I LOVE YOU

I guess it's kind of funny that my first post of original written content on this blog is one that focuses on what is perhaps my most frivolous interest, fashion. I, in fact, disagree with that verdict.

You see, I'm in love. Maybe it's because, ever since I was a little kid, my mother would step on the plastic pedal of her sewing machine and the sound of the needle thrumming against fabric feeding through would buzz in the air, like many tiny bees saying pthhhlb! pthhhlb! at my pathetic inability to do what my mother could do. I have always wanted to sew and failed miserably, mostly due to my impatience. But I will always hold a high regard for anyone who can cut out a piece of flat fabric, look at it, and turn it into something three-dimensional.

Just like art on a canvas is meant to be pondered upon, considered, and very often paid exorbitant amounts of cash on, something made of fabric is just as thoughtful, thought-provoking and, for what must be the millions of people who rock happily back and forth on their heels when stores put out new collections, just as loveable.

Art, in all its infinite forms, does so many things. Art makes you think, makes you wonder about the things that are presented as a representation of real life, makes you laugh when it's ridiculously silly and makes you, perhaps, cry when it's particularly poignant. Art is so very much a reflection of what you are and what you want to be.

I know that the fashion industry, as well as haute couture itself, is definitely not without its flaws. But sometimes we need to remember that fashion at its roots, at its ideals, and at haute couture, is art that has the full capability to transport you to beautiful places just as a well-penned novel can.

With that, I want to show you some of the Dior Haute Couture Fall 2010 collection. I was surprised to see a lot of mixed reviews about this season, mostly due to the very Galliano tackiness of the bright colours and ridiculous uses of fabric. Some of the looks were creeping over the edge of bright to the side clearly labelled tacky, but with every Dior show I fall more in love with the New Look reinvented over and over and over again.

I'm going to admit that I've skipped to pretty much the end of the entire show with this photo but, you know, whatever. LOOK AT THIS DRESS. The way the black satin seems to gradually give way to the light fabric is incredible. And the tiny hint of green in the dye? So beautiful, and so evocative of the tenderness of new petals.

The black tulle! The buttery yellow tulle! It's as if a flower was supersized and seamlessly sewn into the dress. I adore the back. Kim looks like a dark sprite slipped into the petals of a flower.

The finale dress. Just look at the colours. I am dying ;_;

Hair, makeup, shoes, and a little detail from one of my other favourite looks. The hair is completely ridiculous and I love it. The shoe in this pretty green is so lovely - like ivy creeping up the model's ankle.

Stephen Jones created headgear that looked like a florist's plastic wrap. Someone else contributed the raffia belts. And nature did the rest. "It's the most inspiring teacher," said John Galliano, after a show that was a hymn to all things floral. Part of his research involved studying real flowers, spending an hour watching the light change on a parrot tulip, for instance. ... Perhaps it was the precision of the inspiration that accounted for the show's clarity, not only in the palette but in the delicate techniques. The fronding, the feathering, the ruching, the ruffling—all duplicated the extraordinary intricacies of flowers. Delicate they may be in nature, but his objects of study gave Galliano free rein to be bold.

Tim Blanks @ Style.com

I guess it's good this is just my first runway recap post because I am completely incoherent. Looking at these images makes me wish I was a tiny fairy prancing around in fields of gorgeous flowers made of tulle and satin and chiffon, and as expressed much more eloquently by Blanks, that was exactly the intention. This is art at its finest. I'm not going to lie - I am unashamedly a blind Dior fangirl, and most seasons I see very little wrong being done. Fashion very much attempts to display and fulfil our fantasies, just as so many writers also have. Fantasy, whimsy, that sense of childish excitement - that's what I see so often in haute couture.

...Which is good, seeing as I recently purchased a white tutu from the children's section of H&M. For myself. :)

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In other news: I'm still getting the hang of this blogging deal! I think my tendency to ramble may be a negative effect but, you know. What you see is what you get - hello, ridiculously long trains of thought! Still, I'm hoping to have something up at least a couple times a week. I do, after all, have lots and lots to talk about (and much more personal thought to be expressed!)

Much love,

Kai