The Grecian Effect
Elie Saab
First of all, please allow me to pay homage to WWD, my go-to source for information as well as inspiration! While I sincerely wish I had more time to download every runway show on YouTube, I simply do not. Sigh.
In their coverage of the Paris Couture collections, Alex Badia highlights (no pun intended!) the pastel palette that dominated the runways this season. I’m definitely a fan…I’ve always been a blush pink girl myself. But what I noticed about the collections was the cut. Long, flowing gowns, featuring pleating, ruching, or tulle, seem to be making a comeback after a season of tailoring and structure. Cases in point…
Fendi - an exquisite creation in Icelandic blue, low bustline and spaghetti straps revealing a sparkling bralette underneath, fabric so soft as to appear cloud-like, the draping divine, the sleeves sweeping the floor with ethereal grace. Zuhair Murad - the bodice wrapped in true Grecian Style, from afar it appears to have no other inner structure holding the gown in place, the skirt floating in the breeze like the softest of clouds. Elie Saab - very similar to the above, a bit darker in hue, the bodice a little more straightforward with a single criss-cross, and the skirt much fuller whereas Murad’s appear to be split into pieces…still gorgeous and ethereal.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of this hyperfeminine style, reminiscent of Grecian goddesses. In fact, the video that Maria Grazia Chiuri created for Dior’s 2020-2021 Autumn-Winter collection was my favorite viewing during the depths of the Pandemic. Directly referencing Grecian mythology in a setting infused with living statues, mermaids, and bathing nymphs, two bellmen trek through the forest to present tiny miniature versions of the collection to said mythological beings. There are even more direct references to specific heroes such as Narcissus, Apollo and Daphne, Hades and Persephone. Chiuri again makes direct reference to ancient Greece with her more recent, 2022 Cruise Collection show, set in Athens at the Acropolis, with a full orchestra providing an ethereal soundscape.
This was not intended to be an advertisement for Dior, much as I love the brand, but it so happens that Chiuri demonstrates the “Grecian effect” (I just coined a phrase!) that I noted in the Parisian Couture shows.
