[Style.com]

A few of the biggest names' —Gucci, Lanvin, McCartney, Céline, Pucci— Cruise 2012 collections were published yesterday on Style.com. One of my favourites from the group was Givenchy. I love what Riccardo Tisci has done for the brand from day one (which is why I get so scared about the Dior rumours) and I am even more into this game of layers, graphics and sheers that he started recently. His resort creations for the brand follow a very similar line than his fw11 collection but in a softer more feminine way, AKA: no raging bulldogs.

Instead, he's integrated florals, of which we also saw a little for the winter collection. However, as you click through the pictures the flowers become more and more like what we saw on Jil Sander's huge summer hit collection both for women and men.

I would have put this post on the copycat category if it weren't for Riccardo's involvement. Instead, I prefer to think that he admires Simons' work so much he kindly asked to borrow his flowers over a Lady Grey tea in a Florentine garden.

Would you rather wear Tisci's or Simons' design?

Haute Couture Day 1

I don't remember getting this excited about Couture in a while, particularly about Galliano's work for Christian Dior. The truth is his last collection for the French staple was inspired and inspiring and took the so-called 'floral inspiration' to a whole new level. The models impersonated upside-down bunches of flowers with stem wrappers acting as hats (designed by Stephen Jones) and petals facing downwards as skirts. Regardless of the outstanding technical aspects (I loved all the ruching, specially on the nude dress) the best part of the collection were the colours. Tim Blanks, in his review for Style.com, points out how Galliano must've observed different kinds of flowers in different types of light to come up with the very precise colour palette. Personally, I found that the hues on the dresses took more from the captivating degradé of pansies than from any other flower. The bows at the waist and the petal-shaped bustiers culminated looks that, while staying true to the house's foundations and Galliano's signature looked glamourously avant-garde.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]