Delirious: Gucci Resort

After the excesses of Dior's airport lounge and Chanel's hangar and unabashed opulence, it was refreshing to see a back to basics show like Frida Giannini's resort collection for Gucci the other day. Still rocking and still full of pheromonal zest but with a more subtle, feminine edge, Giannini has made Gucci her own.

Sticking to a monochrome-plus-one palette, this show held a candle to the Brian Setzers and wild childs of the world. Fantastic were the jackets and structured, masculine shapes but also beautiful were the prints and pleats of the skirts, and the stabs of acid brights. Giannini also showed less can be more with a Margiela-esque ensemble that worked well with Hye Park's focused gaze, and the boys' belted jackets and tailored trousers were seriously rocking. Though perhaps a little too close to Americana for the resort beaches aimed at, the collection also had its fair share of sophisticated evening attire in the form of gorgeous halter cocktail dresses but ultimately, this show was about attitude - and Gucci woman wouldn't have it any other way.
- David

Sartorial Fascism: Dior Resort 2007

I love John Galliano about 100 times more than I love Karl Lagerfeld. And I really want to say that this collection totally beat up and black–eyed the Chanel resort collection. But, I have to admit, it was rather dry. Like, with the Chanel collection, I bashed it, but I have to give my buddy Karl a “whoo” for at least trying and not being timid. For the Dior collection, I felt like Galliano turned wimpy on us. Yeah, this is his first cruise collection, but it wasn’t poppin’, yo. It was so Ann Taylor meets American Apparel, eh no “Dior” in there. Like that first white dress, hm, I’ve seen that dress about 50 times. I have that dress, except mine is from Anthropologie and sans that Dior name.. The collection was not barf–quality; everything was really simple and nice nice nice. I liked the way things flowed and everything, except for the tight metallic hot pants, seemed to be loose and really chillaxed. It reminded me of a windy day, probably b/c the flowing and draping going on. I loved the sequining at the bottom of many of the dresses. THAT was pretty wow. Innovative, especially how it is supposed to represent the skyline. And the wigs, the short short ones, “punk rock”? Wowz0rz. Freja Beha with short hair. But ¿dondé está John Galliano? M.I.A. Well, for most of it. The last dress, the closing so–called act, was Galliano–quality. And then Galliano ran out and scared the shit out of me. The image of Galliano in my head was from that one Sasha editorial - a delicate pirate, like a whisper of "yo ho ho'. Not screaming yo ho ho meets male stripper.

Love,
Natski, Sartorial Fascist