Christian Dior Fall 2011

So my normal Fashion Week coverage has lulled.  And by lulled I mean died before it even started.  See the thing is that I've looked through all the shows and have a giant Style.com lookbook of all the looks I like...but it keeps crashing.  Like the lookbook doesn't work.  Every time I go back and try to pull images from it it goes crazy.  So.  I don't know what to do about that.  Coverage may come eventually?  In the meantime, I felt like the Dior show was noteworthy enough to go through the pain of figuring out how to post.


I'm sure some of you have heard, but Galliano was fired from Dior for making some particularly hateful and anti-Semitic remarks on camera.  However, I can't hate the clothes for his mistakes, so let's just focus on how pretty they are.  Because they are very pretty.


The overall vibe here is boho luxe meets '20s meets '40s meets Zorro/medieval peasants.  Yep.  That's a lot of influences.  I think the main thing to focus on are the shapes and the fabrics.


Doesn't Karlie Kloss look like an awesomely high-fashion Zorro-bandit in this first look? I adore those thigh-high boots.  It looks like the fur circle scarves from a few seasons ago are going to be back full force (I blame the Prada fur stoles from last season).  I love the layering here, with the miniskirt and the thigh-high boots.  It's not showing a lot of skin, but it's still hot.

And more furry circle scarves!  Sweeping a-line coats are also going to be a thing next season.  There's something so USSR about them.  That blue coat belongs in my life.

Also cropped fur jackets.  Basically fur in all incarnations is going to be big.  That gold coat might be my favorite piece.  The cut says military, but the fabric says baroque luxury, and the fur on top gives it all a wild twist.

How Hitchcock heroine is that fur scarf/jacket combo?  The bow at the waist is too cute, and the fur picks up the color palette of the jacket perfectly, while the skirt's light texture gives it all a bit of a whimsical twist.  I feel like this red dress is what a Jane Austen heroine would wear to a cocktail party today.  Which makes me love it so much.

I love the subtle variations in hue of these two looks.  At first glance they seem to be all greyish beige, but once you look closer you see all the small changes in color and texture.   Also I love that these two looks show how different outerwear gives a totally different vibe to similar dresses.  The blazer makes the minidress more daytime appropriate, and the fur jacket makes it very nighttime luxe.

And the fur circle scarves even go with cocktail dresses!  These dresses are so interesting in that they seem like just layers of silk and chiffon, but then you start to see all the detail and construction that goes into them, like the artful draping on the second dress and the tiny, asymmetrical layers on the first dress.

All images via style.com.