Less is: Haute Couture

Flipping through magazines to view all the campaign ads along with watching each season's most popular haute couture runway shows, has been one of the biggest influences and interest growing up. Before I fell in love with Ready-to-Wear collections, couture was my main focus as a designer. The avant-gard collections that these designers create are nothing short of stunning. Haute Couture clothing is made from high-quality, expensive fabrics, and are highly detailed finishes.

Like I've said, for the next month, I will continue to blog about how "Less is" minimal, and how minimalism impacts fashion and art through many aspects. Today, I present how minimalism impacts Haute Couture and give brief details about each designer's SS13 collection.

Chloe:

This collection has captured many fashion followers due to Chloe's 60 year anniversarry[click here to readpast article about it]. The upbeat and fun attitude that Chloe likes to embrace, brought oversized volumes and t-shirts, many ruffled edges, and even the applique flowers were cooled down by minimalist tanks. Peaches, reds, mustards and other wonderful cool palettes were used throughout the runway show. Overall, the minimalism was portrayed through the relaxed and effortless collection.

Dior:

The elegance that Raf Simon debuts to the house of Dior, is clean, refreshing, and very poetic. The set was adorned with white walls, garden like figures, that set a romantic original 1950s like environment. The collection was very similar to Dior's SS47 collection, which was contained with satin textures, asymmetric silhouettes, and minimal color palettes.

Emilio Pucci:

As Emilio Pucci's house is famous for its kaleidoscopic prints and archival patterns storylines, this season, he has started to inch away from them. Using Asian motifs, cargo jackets, and sheer veilings, the collection can be described as geometrically minimal yet vintage inspired.

Prada:

This season, Prada focused on making this collection seem like an impossible dream expressing sentiment and feelings. The collection's Japonisme, embraced traditional tropes of Geisha's femininity using minimal embroidered flowers and silhouettes. The collection moved from dark to light and ended using revoked kimono poetic dresses.

Valentino:

[Saving the best for last] In this final collection, Valentino is known for the concrete romantic identity that the brand has shown for years. One of my favorite couture house, used his typical beautiful and sweetness, feminine designs. This collection however, was captivating into a subtle sensual collection with many geometric lines and floor-length dresses.

These Haute Couture fashion houses, all had their own translation to the traditional classic minimal trends that have impacted the fashion industry for years. Nothing like adding modern minimlism to Haute Couture. I must keep dreaming to reach this point in my fashion career. "Le Dream Big Shayla [haha]"

-Shayla Torres.

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