ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER - Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2014

"Is this the end of the beginning? Or the beginning of the end? Losing control or are you winning? Is your life real or just pretend?"  Black Sabbath

Alexandre Vauthier encapsulates glamor and consumption with all it's  power, sex, excess, addiction, economic booms and crashes, pain, tears, contradiction and paradox.   Beautifully cut and crafted clothes, overlapped with large dashes of fur.  Yes, remember when fur was uncool in it's televised fashion backlash of the 1990s?  Well, within the context of couture shows, particularly Paris, you are going to see a lot fur.  These are high end shows selling into oligarch markets with it's haute fashion; explicitly feminine, black and yellows, mixed with combinations of cream, whites, grays and dark blues.  Balancing the collection with wrap dresses that present a sex appeal -  that doesn't even come close to Versace's standard.