Christian Dior Spring 2011 Couture

Two words: René Gruau. Another two words: color, shadow. In essence, that’s what John Galliano is thinking about with his Dior haute couture show which will be presented Monday at the Musée Rodin on the Left Bank in Paris. Messieurs Dior and Gruau had a longstanding working relationship, with the illustrator able to deftly render the couturier’s creations in a few charcoal strokes and daubs of intensely hued gouache. Except, things aren’t what they seem. Gruau’s wonderful drawings were, said Galliano at the house’s couture atelier at Rue François Premier Sunday afternoon, much more layered and complex up close than they can seem in print. “It is,” he added, “like looking at the Mona Lisa on a postcard.” Just don’t expect a literal homage here; while there is something of Gruau's sensual graphic glamour (and intense color)—think chiaroscuro beading and sketch lines rendered in feathers—the silhouettes only bear the signature John Galliano. Kind of appropriate since the designer revealed that he’d been intent on a career in fashion illustration while at Central Saint Martins in London, with a job lined up in Manhattan after graduation. He started designing clothes only after being encouraged to do so by his tutor. “I was good at drawing,” Galliano said, laughing. “I started to draw with my left hand because I’d gotten so bored of using my right.”