Daily Front Row

2010 March 10

Runway Reviews: Louis Vuitton, Elie Saab

Louis Vuitton, Fall 2010
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(PARIS) Louis Vuitton
During a season full of stark, conservative silhouettes, Marc Jacobs celebrated the creation of woman with a fountain, full-bodied supermodels, and lots of overall joy. After going to back to his roots in New York, Jacobs’ enchanting Vuttion collection did more of the same by emphasizing the chic with wool skirts, perfect corsets, beautiful tweed, jersey dresses, and full on gowns. As the likes of Adriana Lima, Karolina Kurkova, Laetitia Casta, and Elle Macpherson circled the fountain set in perfect ostrich pumps and leather gloves, the audience was captivated by the sense of maturity, love, and research the designer has brought into the collection. The house even put on the impressive taffeta gowns for the finale to fully satisfy the MGM costumes/La Dolce Vita box of memories. After showcasing arguably two of the strongest collections of the whole season, Jacobs has without a doubt cemented the current title as the most significant designer working in fashion today.

Elie Saab
"Pure, absolute black" was the not-so-secret theme of Elie Saab's latest effort, and the retail favorite played up lace and linear charcoal drawing elements in his smart and varied black dress investment series. It was surely a contrast to his recent glitzy and splashy couture effort, but he's clearly aiming to reach a more conservative buyer who’s looking to keep a dress in her closet for at least a half dozen occasions. Splashes of color appeared in the form of the last few sequined gowns in chrome green and peacock blue, with lengthier options being the show stopping, red carpet bait. This was a very absorbing and savvy collection from a pro who finally learned how to draw a line between his two buyer personalities and still deliver astounding evening in the process.