Antimonide - fashion spot -

A celebration of the renowned illustrator René Gruau (1909-2004), who created some of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. This exciting exhibition showcases groundbreaking artworks including original illustrations for Christian Dior Parfums, vintage perfume bottles, sketches and magazines, as well as a selection of Dior Haute Couture dresses personally chosen by John Galliano including a special dres designed by Galliano himself, in homage to Gruau.

René Gruau’s bold lines and fluid style were perfectly in tune with the spirit of Dior, capturing the energy, elegance and audacity of the brand. His illustrations also tell of a special understanding Gruau had of Christian Dior himself, born of a close friendship between the two men. Gruau influenced the graphic style of a whole generation of fashion illustrators and the exhibition features specially commissioned pieces from five UK based illustrators, whose works draws inspiration from the rich collaboration between Gruau and the House of Dior.

Exhibition  – 9th January 2011 (10am – 6pm, daily) Embankment Galleries, Somerset House.

Based in Paris, Cédric Rivrain works within the fashion world as illustrator and designer since the age of 18. These collaborations include magazines such as Tokion, Numéro, and A magazine; drawing for fashion designers such as Yazbukey, John Galliano, and Martine Sitbon, and exhibiting in notable spaces such as Le Bon Marche, Maria Luisa, and Christie’s.
Born in 1977, the son of a doctor, Rivrain grew up in a medical environment, surrounded by bandages and the study of the human body. Anatomy has held a constant place in his life, and consequently and consistenly influences his work. The drawings exhibited here are personal. Devoid of any commercial or professional constraints. They are his free hand, his personal world, and his escape from his daily tasks. Yet even when Cedric attempts to distance himself from fashion with bandages and dissection, what he illustrates best, and what is constantly present is beauty. This personal work is not anti-fashion, but the radical difference between these drawings and those “on command,” is that these may reach deeper into what attracted this human being to the industry in the first place.

Brachfeld Gallery
78 rue des Archives
75003 Paris

Tuesday—Sunday, 2—7pm
tel +33 1 46 36 15 00
gallery@brachfeld-paris.com

Tuesday, July 8, British designer John Galliano is introducing his debut scent some 20 years after launching his fashion brand. He celebrated in Paris, in his headquarters of the 20th arrondissement, the future Launch of its first perfume. Galliano was involved with every step of the scent’s development. John Galliano is an essential character of the fashion world, and would therefore need to create his own fragrance, like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs or Paco Rabanne. John Galliano will be followed closely by Karl Lagerfeld, whose first name perfume is expected soon.

NEW YORK, May 12, 2008 

John Galliano marked the unofficial kickoff to a season that retailers and even editors have all but officially accepted as full-fledged. (Can’t you just sense the ticking clock strapped to its haphazard, spread-out schedule?) He did so for the third year running with the full pomp and celebrity we’ve come to expect chez Dior. Like iron shavings drawn to a magnet, a fleet of town cars bounced along underneath the 59th Street bridge and disgorged their precious cargo—Jennifer Lopez (with an adoring Marc Anthony), Christina Aguilera, Lauren Hutton, Charlize Theron—outside the soaring, vaulted space of Guastavino’s restaurant.

Lately, Galliano has been mining the good old U.S. of A. for raw material from which to spin his dreams. For a season as commercially skewed as resort, Yankee practicality seems an apt starting point. Which isn’t to say that the designer has been studying Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits. More up his avenue are grandes dames like Barbara Hutton, Millicent Rogers, and Nan Kempner—women who weren’t afraid to make a bold sartorial statement, one that preferably involved a whopping piece of jewelry. From a shimmering backdrop that conjured a Tony Duquette garden, there emerged a full wardrobe for their modern-day counterparts in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, and Dallas. Rendered in a bouncy, optimistic palette of corals, fuchsias, and limes, nearly every look was heavy on the beaded embroidery (down to the swimwear and shoes) and topped off with outsized sombreros and bijoux.

With its sixties-era strains of printed tunics, capri pants, trapeze silhouettes, little peplum jackets, and haute bohemian caftans and peasant blouses, the collection hewed closely to the line Galliano sent out last season. Both are light years from the spartan look of his first resort show. A little retail love is likely the guiding force for that continuing direction. (At least one high-living social was heard singing the new collection’s praises on her way out.) What this season is really about is not so much breaking the mold as delivering a vision of the good life—and Galliano can do that in spades.

Source – Meenal Mistry  – style.com