You are assured that Dior is a showman’s collection. Designer John Galliano focused this season on a heavier collection and even bolder look. Backstage the makeup and hair team quote the inspiration of the collection is a punk spirit molded with a gothic look. The makeup itself is something to rave about, black and silver or even burgundy blocked eyelids with thick devil eyebrow. Personally I found the overall look of the models was a combination of John Galliano’s personal look of straight hair and a bandana along with the thick mascara eyes and eyebrows of Gothic rock icon Siouxsie Siouxsie. The models opening the collection with a Galliano swagger down the runway to Pat Benatar’s “Love is a battlefield”.

The opening section was in all black. One the strongest looks was a black lace pleated dress with silver embroidery along the bottom and one side of the skirt. In the second section Galliano shifted out of his all black pallet and into a white and neutrals pallet. One the strongest looks in this section was a cropped white taffeta trench coat. The white taffeta is covered with black and red sheer lace; the lace is overlapped creating a rough texture to the jacket. One of the big misses of this collection are all the chunky pirate boots. Another big miss in the collection was all the tapered leg pants, a trend we’ve saw over and over the past four seasons.

The must have pieces from this collection are from the evening section. Galliano’s focus in the evening section was on tight waist and the skirts cut on bias and paired with cropped jackets. The first must have evening look was the red chiffon gown with the fabric draped on a bias around the bodice and the skirt is covered with tiers of ruffles that cascade horizontally and diagonally. Another strong evening look was the rust color taffeta gown with the fabric draped on a bias and ruffle hemming the fabric.

Season after season Galliano really tries to focus on providing a heavily structured collection. His execution is certainly describes each season as near perfection. This season I found Galliano has been focused but has been lacking in the execution of a complete collection. Although John and his design team really made sure that each look contained pieces that would really jump out at the Dior client and buyers. From look number one to the last look, the fabrics were rich and the tailoring is near perfection but that sensibility of the collection is a little overboard. The vision took over and Galliano’s design team used too many trends from last season like eyelet dresses and baby doll dress shapes. I know Monsieur Galliano is amazing but we all have our off moments.

view collection here

[images via style]