Stephane Rolland - Couture - Fall Winter 2012 - Paris

03 Jul 2012
Couture Fall Winter 2012 Paris

It’s a shame that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West only made it to the Stephane Rolland show in time to see the finale. They missed a rather good collection.

This season the designer still had his flights of fancy in his sea urchin looking silicone shoulder embellishments or those made out of rock crystal and it wouldn’t be a Rolland show without a metallic shelf sprouting out of the hip of a fitted dress. But putting that aside the collection, with its form-fitting silhouettes which consisted mainly of gowns with flowing trains, was much more controlled, dare I say understated, than past shows.

Rolland explored the notation of how to use circular cut fabrics to create volume on his sleek dresses and jumpsuits. Sometimes they appeared as tiers of fabric on the bodice of a dress that fluttered to resemble a bird in flight, other times they rippled along the bottom of a gown to mimic feathers. Some of the strongest pieces were the ones, like a white pantsuit towards the end of the show, which attached the rounded fabric to strong shoulders. This created a cape effect, but it was actually sewn to the back of the pant legs so that the fabric would billow out behind the model.

And kudos to the Chinese actress Fan Bing Bing who was the show’s muse and carried the final wedding dress on her tiny shoulders like a real star. Kardashian could learn a thing or two from her.

-Jessica Michault