Couture Bonanza, and an Ode to Riccardo Tisci

You may be aware that Spring 2007 Couture week in Paris has just ended. There are plenty of reviews of the collections floating around but I thought I would just put in my two cents.
Hands down, my favorite was Riccardo Tisci's collection for Givenchy. His past couple of ready-to-wear collections for the line have been rather shaky, but he seems to be finding his footing.
I loved the dreamy, slightly gothic, sophisticated aesthetic of this collection. It reminded me, a bit, of Olivier Theyskens' past collections for Rochas which contained a similar darkly romantic mood.
To wit:




I love the unexpected shock of yellow, à la tarte au citron in this otherwise moody collection.

And those hats! They may be a bit more difficult to swallow than Balenciaga's fabulous riding caps but they certainly are something.

None of the other collections really appealed to me as a consumer, except, as in the case of Galliano for Dior, for their artistic/aesthetic beauty.

I find something like this origami-influenced piece gorgeous, but I could never imagine wearing it. That's always been my idea of couture - it's wearable art for the few. You have to be rich enough, and poised enough, to pull it off. It's often mocked by people who don't realize that couture gowns will never be hanging on a rack at Barney's...while a select few still do purchase couture, most designers usually take the opportunity to use this dying art to showcase their virtuoso skills - and to engage in flights of fancy that might be seen, in distilled form, in future RTW collections.
Similar sentiments are suggested in the always astute Cathy Horyn's article for the NYT:

She called Tisci's effort "immature"...which I have to agree with, I think he still has a ways to go in comparison to the other designers, but aesthetically it was still my favorite.