passed away this month<\/a> at the age of 93, but it was so close in spirit to the label\u2019s founder, he couldn\u2019t have planned a better tribute.<\/p>\n\n\tHis darkened set was dotted with circular wooden structures with eye-level peepholes, inspired by the 19th-century ancestor of cinema, the Kaiserpanorama. The show unfolded not on a runway, but inside these brightly lit boxes, with live models instead of stereoscopic moving images.<\/p>\n
\n\tA recording of Garavani, describing how his vocation was born in the cinema, played at the start of the show. The Italian couturier grew up admiring 1940s screen stars like Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tMichele\u2019s show harked back even further, to the origins of modern-day celebrity culture, with a blend of silent film iconography and Art Deco glamour.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere was something undeniably meta about sitting in a darkened room with guests including Kirsten Dunst and Dakota Johnson, scrutinizing his homage to the Hollywood dream factory \u2014 some of the spectacular gowns no doubt bound for the Oscars red carpet.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn his Specula Mundi, Latin for \u201cmirror of the world,\u201d each garment carried a promise of transcendence.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeveral looks were like Ert\u00e9 illustrations come to life, like the white satin bias-cut slip, topped with an ivory velvet embroidered coat with a pooling train, that erupted into an ostrich feather and rhinestone headdress.<\/p>\n
\n\tOthers looked like they were plucked from the costume department of \u201cZiegfeld Follies\u201d or \u201cMata Hari.\u201d You could picture Gloria Swanson posing in a white chiffon cape dusted with silver geometric motifs, or a Poiret-style black velvet drop-waisted kimono coat with graphic floral decorations.<\/p>\n
\n\tTo a blend of classical music and thumping techno, models with gold crowns in sunburst pleats offered themselves up for contemplation, like objects of secular worship. Gold lam\u00e9 goddess gowns added a dash of \u201880s gloss, morphing film idols with Oscar statuettes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve always felt like an archeologist,\u201d Michele said in a preview, adding that he was fascinated with the myth-making power of clothes.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe noted how many designers who stepped into new creative director roles last year unveiled their first designs not on the runway, but on the red carpet.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe red carpet is like a metaphysical place that is not the market, where you can put your fantasy \u2014 so nobody can say anything, because it\u2019s not real. It\u2019s like the Yellow Brick Road in the \u2018Wizard of Oz.\u2019 It\u2019s like a fairy tale,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe presentation format forced the gaze to linger. Face pressed to the porthole, you fought between the urge to drink in each detail, or to capture the fantasy apparitions with your smartphone. As awards season plays out against chaotic world events, Michele dared his audience to dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Paris Couture Week, designers are split into two camps. While some re-center haute couture as the highest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[137905,146,11062,85,46,3220,133247,97549],"class_list":["post-262486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-alessandro-michele","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion-show-reviews","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-oscars","tag-paris-couture-week","tag-valentino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}