Days of Strangeness at Dior

Things must be unusual these days at the House of Dior, judging by the high fashion show they saw this afternoon at the Musee Rodin. All sorts of weird vibes, along with a lack of design leadership, have a way of surfacing in clothes. A runway is like a shrink's couch; stuff comes out.

For some reason I had the idea that this collection would be an interim deal until Dior could hire a successor to John Galliano. Not having a show would have been unthinkable because the Dior machinery has other products, like fine jewelry, to keep promoting, & the hoopla of a couture show, small or not, is a great way to keep distracted people at least small interested.

Oh, yeah - Dior. So I was a small surprised that the house gave a lot play to Bill Gaytten, a studio assistant, who came to Dior in 1999 with Mr. Galliano. You would think that the management - Sidney Toledano, the chief executive of Dior, & his boss, Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton - were road-testing Mr. Gaytten for the job. (He was recently named creative director of the Galliano brand.)

I've known Mr. Gaytten for a decade. I met him in the Dior studio with Mr. Galliano & Steven Robinson, a close collaborator of Mr. Galliano's for lots of years, who oversaw virtually every detail of the collections. (Mr. Robinson died unexpectedly in 2007.) It appeared to be an excellent creative team, backed up by Dior's ateliers, & Mr. Gaytten's strength was in pattern-cutting. I am liking Mr. Gaytten. He's a sweetheart, but he is not a designer.

Backstage, Mr. Gaytten said it was time to do something a bit more modern at Dior. & when asked if he wanted the creative director job, he said, "Yeah, I do", & added, "I'm not a fool."

The collection introduced today, with modern architectural shapes as the reference (at least that explains the dumb cubes & balls embedded in the model's hair), was a hodgepodge. I had the feeling that Mr. Gaytten, without providing much guidance, let the studio hands play with free-form shapes. There were multicolored jackets with full pleated skirts in contrasting squiggle patterns. The tutti-frutti palette, with jolts of turquoise, recalled the Memphis design movement. Other dresses in metallic silk, with overlapping squares, made you think of Frank Gehry's buildings. That immaculate Dior polish was not evident. Some long flowing dresses in hand-painted silk looked contemporary , but for the most part the garments looked like over-bright costumes.

But any way you try to romance this collection with modern architects, it looked to me as though lots of hands were in the pie as well as a number of them might have belonged to management, which is seldom a lovely suggestion. You wind up with a mess. I can't imagine Karl Lagerfeld not being 100 percent in charge at Chanel (I had a peek last night at a number of his couture dresses, & they're awesome discuss simple architecture). & the same goes for Azzedine Alaia, who will show on Thursday.

Where Did the Fun Go?

A few years ago, as the success of the recession, the Chambre Syndicale, the authority of the French fashion, decided to separate the men from shows and high fashion in June for a week. The two sample groups followed each other, as they still do in January. A week of free time in Europe is no longer considered for publication with the joy of living in the past, so they tend to divide time between work and pleasure. Right now I'm in a village in Burgundy, staying at La Source des Fees, a vineyard owned by Thierry Philippe Nouvel Greffet. The place is as beautiful as it is relaxed, with fine dining, and every night brings new customers - Dutch, Swedish, French. It is the beginning of the summer.

Nathalie Lagneau / Catwalking

A look of men wear Lanvin show in Paris. Perhaps because of the distance from the sample of men, it is easier to see what they lacked. The other day I wrote about the sensuality in the collections of Givenchy and Comme des Garcons. But I think in general what is missing in the Paris and Milan shows spring is a sense of fun. I had a chat with Carla Sozzani, Milan retailer after Lanvin, noting that the creative spirit that led the designers in the past business was partly meant for both the design of incredible things, as did his own bosses. But while many young designers who still have that mentality, the field is dominated by the big brands. They want results, Sozzani said.

Kristy Sparow / Getty Images

Looking to show signs of wear men Raf Simons.
Loïc Prigent The reporter also noted a difference in recent years among young assistants who work for large houses. In the past, I would ask where they planned to party after a show. "They say:" We can not leave because we started working on a collection

of sperm in the morning, '  "he said. Whether for fun.

Chris Moore / Cat walking

A model to show signs of wear of the men Prada in Milan.

The lack of pleasure is just one of the victims of a system that has become absurd full pressure. But his absence is evident in the collections - and what consumers really want from fashion fun, but some clothes? Chatting the other day with American designer L'Wren Scott, who lives part of the year in Paris, said the sample of men: "There were a couple of collections happy where he was the vitality and color." And that is talking about the spring and summer clothing.

Ms. Scott noticed because they are often asked about his male friends of custom pieces, and she has always designed suits and shirts for her boyfriend, Mick Jagger, also seeks to find in other collections.

Shopping Snapshots

Polka dots, a fashion perennial, attracted a new round of attention when Marc Jacobs, who played around with circles for spring, went hog-wild on his fall runway with polka-dot pillbox hats and hosiery, and everything in between. Dots continued to pop up — at Stella McCartney, Gucci and Lanvin.

Model Casting

Backstage at Lanvin, a view of the models’ head shot board and the show’s fairly diverse casting.

A Magazine That Won't Smudge

EVEN as the publishing rivals Condé Nast and Hearst Magazines race to one-up each other with plans to translate their old-fashioned fashion magazines for the new generation of tablets — adding features like a talking editor’s letter (Elle) or an i Pad

- only reality series (Glamour) — there is still the sense in some quarters that those companies haven’t yet fully embraced the digital medium.

THE LAYOUT Post, a new fashion magazine, is available only on the iPad.

“What I find terrible is that these companies have actually curbed progress by not allowing their digital teams to grow,” said Remi Paringaux, 27, an art director who last year started a London-based company that creates iPad applications for clients like Gucci Group and its Stella McCartney label.

Mr. Paringaux, who had previously worked for traditional magazines (as in on paper) like Dazed & Confused and Vogue Japan, said he found himself wanting more from print than print was able to offer. So his company, Meri Media, introduced the magazine Post, developed to be viewed solely on an iPad.

The first issue, released in January for $2.99 to mostly positive reviews, included a video of a burning man created by the photographer Solve Sundsbo, a periodic table of accessories where jewelry revolved at the touch of a finger and an interpretation of what the particles moving about the Large Hadron Collider might sound like.

The second issue, with the theme of gravity, is expected to be released next week, along with a separate app promoting a series of artist created videos that will be broadcast on a floating barge during the Venice Biennale. The issue includes videos of skydivers dressed in designer suits and an interactive fashion shoot where the user can manipulate the dimensions of the model Iselin Steiro, though presumably not in a way that would offend Apple’s moral standards for content.

While Mr. Paringaux said he was interested in showing the potential of the iPad for magazines, its limitations are also visible. The first issue took nearly 20 minutes to download, even with a strong wireless connection, and the credits included links to retailers that didn’t actually carry the products shown in the magazine. A video interview between Olivier Zahm and the artist Miltos Manetas, while visually interesting, was fairly incomprehensible.

Still, in terms of an engaging experience, Post offers a map for others to follow.

“I would be more than happy if they ripped off the concept and applied it to their titles,” Mr. Paringaux said. “It would be a lot richer for everyone.”

'Sleep No More' Is a Feast for Style Fanatics

- On the Runaway, all things fashion -

Audience members are equally at liberty to pop open a trunk at the foot of that bed - lots of do - to select through its contents or, in idle moments, to slide open drawers where they might unearth, say, a stray swatch of silk or striped afternoon frock.

Talk about cravings. At point in the eerily staged production of "Sleep No More" at a mock hotel in Chelsea, a showily pregnant Lady Macduff hikes up her blue velvet evening dress, hops on to a bar and laps milk from a saucer. At another moment in this crazily meandering interpretation of "Macbeth" by Punch drunk, the British experimental theater company, her dress is laid out on a bed, leaving masked spectators free to pore over its capacious folds and seams.
A costume sketch for David Israel ReynosoA costume sketch for "Sleep No More".

For style fanatics, the show is a banquet, a delectable feast of loosely Deco-inspired period paraphernalia, an "adventure in decor," as Ben Brantley wrote in his review in The Times. It was honored with Obie Awards last week for design and choreography. And it captivated the editors of Women's Wear Every day, who were prompted to used the space as a backdrop for a fashion shoot. Not that you can blame them. The shabbily evocative setting and gruesome mood beg for plunder.

They can at various intervals alter coursework to follow the progress of Lady Macbeth as they flits through a warren of rooms, clambering batlike up the walls in a voluminous bathrobe.

Four Tips For The Wholesale Clothing

When referring to any business, being differently and having a very unique set of style separates you from lots of other rivals, especially in the wholesale clothing business. Carrying your own styles, trends and fashions actually separate you from the general crowd. Not only will your business deal with your true unique wholesale fashion clothing purchasers, but as well as regards your competitor’s consumers too since you carry and service a completely different variety of wholesale clothing then everybody else.

Be a Risk-Taker

One key to any business is to be well placed to handle taking hazards on a day by day basis. Some risks which could be contemplated in the wholesale women’s clothing business is squirreling away wholesale fashion clothing and wholesale clothing accessories which could be a hot trend that no-one else truly carries. It is a hit or miss with such business hazards, but if one wants to be a dominant business player in any business atmosphere, be a risk-taker wants to success.

Know the Business

Having a judicious information and appreciation of the way the wholesale clothing business works is the golden key to not only survival, but the path to success. Being mindful of what wholesale fashion garments trends and styles that are selling, keeping right up with what rivals are providing and providing, even reading fashion mags all play a big part in how one conducts their wholesale ladies clothes operation. Being entirely aware and alert of all business related activities and stories is important system.

Stand behind your Business and Service

Nothing is more significant and valuable to any buyer than you as a clothing wholesaler standing behind your goods and services one hundred percent of the time. Providing clients with remarkable client service and help always separates you from any one of your competition. Being ready to stand behind all the products you offer in ANY business is ALWAYS golden, no questions asked. Not only do you win buyers, but you gain their fidelity together with their future business transactions.