Christian Lacroix: A Magical Winter Wonderland
By Timothy Hagy
(Photos by Reuters)
PARIS, July 9, 2003/ FW/ --- To enter the Christian Lacroix Haute Couture show on a sticky July
afternoon, was to leave behind the dusty streets of Paris, and to enter a
veritable winter kingdom, frosted with beauty and spun with the threads of
seduction.
"Magnifique!" cried French actress Florence Darel, stealing the limelight
from Ivana Trump, another blonde sitting front row.
"The show was just so beautiful. I loved it all!" Darel exclaimed.
And the Gallic beauty was not a lone in that opinion, as shouts of Bravo!
rose above the applause, even before the sprint Christian Lacroix made down
the catwalk at the high speed of the 'TGV' train (for which he has just won
an interior design contract).
The real talent of Lacroix is to take so many different ornaments - sprays
of crystal, metallic medallions, mounds of pleated chiffon, slivers of
shredded and dyed fur - and to put them all together to form a masterpiece
that comes to define the appellation "Haute Couture".
If there were ever a perfect specimen, it would be found in this house.
Anna Wintour was certainly impressed, as she reached for her little black
book at the first entrance of a set of magnificent furs.
They floated down the runway in succession: a red fox cape fringed in black and worn atop a
pale rose silk cocktail dress brushed with sequins.
A blue-tipped mink fringed with crystal strands.
A sparkling plum gown paired with a buoyant wine-colored fur.
The runway was soon a magical land of dazzling colors exploding like the
prism formed of sunlight on new fallen snow.
Dusty rose, apricot, chartreuse, and emerald.
There is something magically transforming about an electric-pink mousseline
evening gown veiled with a gossamer mesh of tangerine and liquorice taffeta.
It's like biting into a weightless meringue, or grasping at melting cotton
candy.
As the soundtrack worked its way to a waltzing piano, the sugar-spun world
of Lacroix turned to wispy webs of chiffon and plums, evening dresses of
whipped chiffon dripping in layers of crystals.
Silver, gold, fresh and cool, this collection was a winner.
The bridal gown, frosted ice-blue with layers upon layers of ruffled satin
dusted with melting icicles, brought the audience to a standing ovation.
The magical winter wonderland of Christian Lacroix is a kingdom of
shimmering ecstasy.
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