dior since galliano

I recently said some harsh things about Dior in a post HERE regarding Raf Simons leaving Jil Sander to take the position that John Galliano had held until the hypothetical shit hit the fan during the summer.
So now I am going to do a bit of a retrospective on Christian Dior since Galliano left, and his former position as Creative Director became the most debated métier in fashion.
So after Galliano was fired for being caught making anti-Semitic remarks on video, the question of who would take his place was rife amongst novice fashion blogger such as myself right up to the top of the commentary hierarchy.
Bill Gaytten, who had worked at the hand of Galliano for more than twenty years, finally got his chance in the limelight with the Fall Couture collection in July 2011. In my humble opinion the collection was a major flop. All the elegance of Dior and the history of brand seemed to have been flung out the window and replaced by a mishmash of clown makeup, schizophrenic patterns and hats that looked like they had been collected from the bottom of a three year old's toy box.

Fall Couture 2011

Fall Couture 2011

It then appeared that after that disastrous collection, someone took Mr. Gaytten aside, had a quiet word with him and then Bill began to rethink the the position he was in and the power that was, quite overnight, thrown into his lap. And indeed he did seem to understand. A little. The collection that followed, Spring ready-to-wear 2012, did seem to attempt to tap into the elegance and glamour that Dior had become famous for since it's creation in the 1940s and back to that era Gaytten did go.

Now as you can see from the pictures below, it seemed like he was truly going back to the roots of Dior and the New Look that caused such a commotion after the austerity of the war. 

Spring RTW 2012

Spring RTW 2012

images via style.com

If you look at the overall collection though, you'll see that romanticism was well and truly dead on that runway. While Galliano injected cheekiness into his shows through the flash of the inside thigh or the slit in a too-tight pencil skirt, Gaytten went a step too far by simply showing cheek. While girls were paraded down the runway in sheer skirts and knickers, something expected from the flirty Italians at D&G or Cavalli not a house renowned for French elegance, Karlie Kloss ended the show with her derrière. No doubt Karlie has a fantastic bum sitting atop those fantastic legs but is that really the last thought that should be left in the minds of the buyers, editors and even celebrities who came to see Gaytten's second attempt at salvaging the brand whose name was already up to its ear in controversy?

yes that is the bum of Karlie Kloss

image via jezebel.com

So with Dior holding the 2.30pm slot next Monday for Couture week, all eyes will be expecting Gaytten to really up his game because, with all drew respect, his was never a permanent position and whoever will be taking the reigns next won't want to have to dig a house with so much history out of the proverbial hole. 

 Cheers for reading,

Jane