Top Picks: Jean Paul Gaultier Spring 2011 Couture

Some very elegant looks in this collection, all with Jean Paul Gaultier’s signature touch of audacity (or indecency, whichever way you like to look at it!). The 30s and 40s influence is there, though there’s a feeling of 2011 does 1986 doing 1941, if you know what I mean. And I couldn’t help but include the can-can skirt here, how delicious! No better way to end a fashion show, but with a little high-kicking down the runway. The whole affair makes me think of a nightclub in Paris, today or perhaps in the early 1980s. The Lido, or the Crazy Horse…

Backstage Hair & Makeup at Christian Dior Couture Spring 2011

Backstage shots of hair and makeup at the show, fantastico! You can see, to give the models that haughty, high cheek-boned and highly arched brow look of Rene Gruau’s fashion illustrations in the 1950s, they used Face Lift Tape! Apparently it’s common in the fashion world and the entertainment industry, I had no idea!

Details at Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring 2011

Thanks to Style.com, we can get a closer peek at the lovely coiffed hair, Gruau-esque makeup, killer heels, contrasting colored gloves, half-moon manicures and fine details that made me love this show so so much…

John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring 2011

Oh god, kill me now! I can die happy after this collection. It’s Galliano’s tribute to Christian Dior’s fashion illustrator, Rene Gruau, who made the New Look so iconic in the 1940s and 50s. Perhaps I’ll post some Gruau illustrations to let you see just how strong the influence is here. It also reminds me of Gene Kelly and An American in Paris, which I watched again recently. Oh Galliano, marry me! Or more to the point, dress me!

Here is the entire collection. I would normally just post my top picks, but I feel this one stands as a whole. Enjoy!