Fall 2018 Couture and the Movies They Most Resemble

by Isabel Slone July 5, 2018

“’This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gender,’ i holler as i overturn my uncle’s barbeque grill and turn the 4th of July into the 4th of Shit,” is one of the greatest dril tweets of all time and also, coincidentally, a pretty good review of the Jean Paul Gaultier Fall 2018 Couture show. Gaultier presented a totally gender fluid collection that one could imagine would look incredible on the club-crawling denizens of Paris is Burning, or, come to think of it, just about any other queer nightlife icon, like Ladyfag or (RIP) Leigh Bowery.

Maison Margiela: Mad Max: Fury Road

The Maison Margiela Fall 2018 couture show is what Burning Man would look like if famous fashion eccentrics like Isabella Blow and Anna Piaggi had decided to crash the festivities. John Galliano designed plastic and tulle sheaths, used sleeves as neckwarmers and paired them all with VR goggles for a collection that would fit in perfectly at the desert festival dedicated to self-reliance and radical self-expression, where stilt walkers, women with Tank Girl haircuts and people in steampunk goggles parade around as if they’re in a live-action cosplay of Mad Max: Fury Road. Nothing about these clothes makes sense, and that’s the point. It’s the most invigorating collection Galliano has designed since his return to fashion.

Dior: The Talented Mr. Ripley

Diet Prada, the cutting Instagram account that sniffs out plagiarists with the métier of a truffle pig, now have the industry clout to deliver a bad review with just as much power as anything written by Cathy Horyn, the former New York Times fashion critic, circa 2006. Their stinging review of Dior Couture claimed the collection looked like something you could buy at David’s Bridal. Ouch. That said, I can’t disagree with that assessment. The puckered seams on some of the gowns look like something you’d find on an abandoned home economics project rather than a gown shown by a historic couture house. Much like The Talented Mr. Ripley, the collection left me wondering, How the heck did [he/they] get away with this?

Ralph & Russo: Last Days of Disco

If the movie Last Days of Disco somehow transmogrified into a couture collection, this would be it. Ralph & Russo delivered a sparkly display of skewed ‘80s glamour. No doubt the underpaid Manhattan book editors played by Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in the film would kill to trade in their sparkly tube tops for these OTT couture gowns.

Givenchy: Funny Face

The spirit of Audrey Hepburn permeated the entirety of Claire Waight Keller’s latest collection for Givenchy. The sharp lines and slim silhouettes hearken back to the glory days of Hubert de Givenchy’s muse, when capes and gloves were still socially acceptable, albeit fancy, daywear. The standout moment? A structured tailcoat unexpectedly lined with glimmering silver sequins.

Schiaparelli: Romeo + Juliet

One of Elsa Schiaparelli’s most famous designs is a hat shaped like a lobster. The renewed house’s designer, Bertrand Guyon, interpreted this reference at its most literal, designing a couture collection rife with giant animal masks including a feathery flamingo headdress, Gummo-esque bunny ears and a puppy mask made of floaty marabou feathers. The collection was kind of like if the entire cast of the masquerade ball scene in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet accidentally time-traveled back to 1935 and found themselves at a party held by Marchesa Luisa Casati.

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