For this Spring Summer 2011 season, Maurizio Galante’s meticulous couture is akin to architecture, with skilful assemblages of elements in brilliant, magnificent colors. Le Carré d’Encre, chosen for the show, was the ideal venue for this veritable explosion of color, so obvious is the richness of the pigments used.
Each woman is an almost animal-like hybrid creature wearing the shade that best defines her: ochre, red, black, pink, green, violet, even combining all shades to become a pretty bird of paradise wearing magnificent feathers. The designer also invited artist Arlette Vermeiren, who created the« Les couleurs de la vie » jacket-bolero.
But above all, the famous couturier takes us on a journey through different continents. Asia offers itself to us through origami dresses made of astonishing accordion pleats of Organza. Africa is not to be outdone, thanks to astonishing body paintings and metal head jewels with feathers or stones that serve as giant earrings and give an ethnic relief to the silhouettes. Some of the ornaments on these head jewels, inspired by ancient jewelry worn by Roman women, seem to be free interpretations of Mayan jewelry from Latin America.
As a true fashion architect, Maurizio Galante demonstrates the unparalleled know-how of exceptional craftsmanship, a hyper-structured work akin to architecture. Nothing is static in this collection; the garment seems alive, becoming three-dimensional and accompanying the woman’s gait. Fabrics undulate and change color as the models move. The woman becomes one with her outfit.
We find ourselves admiring the successive layers of a dress, a sort of textile millefeuilles embroidered with tiny pearls, the assemblies of articulated mini-panels, the meticulous gazar folds of a collection offering short dresses, long coats, short jackets or bibs.
Maurizio Galante sees his clothes as objects: « .My clothes have two lives, » he says, « seemingly simplistic two-dimensional shapes that come to life when they play with bodies and come to life. Like supple, fluid architecture, I see clothes as living spaces that envelop the body, protect and structure the wearer, and emphasize her gestures. «
With a collection halfway between design and fashion, Maurizio Galante offers us sensual dresses that are part of the memory of couture, as he pays tribute to a certain savoir-faire that is the envy of the world. And beyond that, he questions women’s relationship with the garment-object.
A very interesting and, above all, exciting hand-to-hand encounter.
Filmed by Luxsure with a Kodak Playtouch
Marie-Odile Radom
