Simply Abu Dhabi XXIX

ULYANA SERGEENKO The ritual of tea, feasts and joy are Ulyana Sergeenko’s main inspirations for her Spring/Summer 2018 haute couture collection. This time, the Russian couturier decided to present her collection in a luxurious and intimate location—the Hotel D’Evreux at Place Vendôme. The hotel salons were filled with sweets and a big five- tier cake stood at the centre of the principal room, with porcelain cups that seemed to be little houses, dangling from a Babel-like tower. The presentation was a way to communicate the new collaboration launched by Sergeenko with the Russian Imperial Manufacture, the porcelain manufacturer that used to create the dishes for the Czar. After the show, it transpired that the decorative cups may go on sale. The requests by the clients and press to purchase the refined porcelain cups was huge. However, speaking of the collection, it was an even greater triumph of pastel colours, with pink and green mixed with vibrant blues and reds, and of course the classic black and white. The silhouette was sleek and curved and of course it recalled the tea sets and the ceremonies of tea that took place during the Marie Antoinette period as well as in the fantastic world of Alice in Wonderland. Framing sleeves and hems, crepe, silk, Richelieu embroideries, taffeta, douchesse satin, and the distinctive Sergeenko Yalets and Vologda lace were all in the collection. Among the accessories, the Napkin bags were achingly cool, trimmed and worked with such a craftsmanship that, on a table, were easily confused with a real napkin. CHANEL A French garden with a big circular fountain, with sandy paths and rose-threaded pergolas—this was the scene set for the Chanel Spring/Summer 2018 show, which as usual, took place at the majestic Grand Palais in Paris. This time, Keiser Karl, monsieur Karl Lagerfeld, created a delicate collection characterised by its discretion. Soft pastel colours such as pink, blue, grey and white were prominent, but what stood out most from the entire showwas the picturesque allure from the classic Chanel tweeds, the silks, and the chiffons dresses. There wasn’t a silhouette or a specific volume in the dresses: everything was various and colourful as if Lagerfeld had played with the fabrics to recreate with this collection the variety that nature can offer, even if encapsulated in the closed space of the garden. Gowns, either hand embroidered or adorned with paillettes or hand painted by the skilful hands of Chanel’s artisans, were the collection’s true protagonists. The chiffon used to adorn a meticulously embroidered floral trench coat evoked a Spring breeze, and the crystals that floated on an evening gown or on the boots recalled the dew on plants in the first hours of the day. We can say that with this collection that Mr Lagerfeld has, in the way like Renoir or Monet did, tried to capture the impossible beauty of nature in a spring day. DIOR Monsieur Christian Dior was a true art connoisseur and counted many artists as friends, such as Dalì or Picasso. He actually had his own art gallery before he became a couturier. In fact, Mr Dior was a significant figure, hosting the first ever exhibition in Paris of Italian female surrealist artist Leonor Fini. Starting with the incredible life of Fini, Maria Grazia Chiuri— Dior’s artistic director for women’s wear—based her Spring/Summer Haute Couture 2018 collection on Surrealism, one of the most controversial artistic movements of the twentieth century. What’s fascinating about Fini is that she was one of the first women who dressed up to interpret her different ways of being, representing herself in different ways, as if she herself were a work of art. So, in this way, Chiuri found the link to our modern society in which everyone, through posting on social media, reinterprets with each post what they want or desires to define their uniqueness. For Fini, a masque was the symbol of the personality of the one who wore it, because for her what was really interesting was to represent people in multiple facets. On the runway of the Museé Rodin, models wore black or white feminine men’s suits, men’s coats, ties and men’s jackets. The colour palette was mainly monochrome but there were some ball gowns in blue, grey or red—the noble colour for excellence. Of course, there were also sober and delicate ball gowns, a must-have for Maria Grazia. The most important dresses of the collection were those in which the cage—as a structure of the dress itself or as a decoration of the gown—could be seen. Surrealism was very much about the body and about how the body moved: the cage was a natural reference for these artistic movements. InDior’s couture alphabet, these ball gowns took cages as appropriate structure.