Haute Couture Spring 2011: Christian Dior

Galliano saluted René Gruau, the illustrator whose work for Christian Dior in the forties and fifties created the house's most iconic imagery, in this Couture Spring 2011 collection. The graphite smears, pencil strokes and scribbles, erasure marks and gouache washes of Gruau's illustrations were duplicated in cloth and embroidery, used, said the designer, "in an illustrative way." The most dramatic effects were chiaroscuro—the interplay of light and shade, duplicating the wash of Gruau's watercolors and the shadows of Irving Penn's classic couture photography. Where it seemed that hand-painting fabric would have been the simplest way to achieve the desired result, Galliano and his studio used seven layers of tulle to create a shimmering depth of dégradé. The effect was as quietly impressive as the wash of dark pink down a pale pink gown. Embroidery was used on one side of the fabric only, so it cast a subtle relief shadow. Ostrich feathers made swooshes of ink on a huge ball gown, pencil lines were picked out in sequins.* This all made for one breathtaking collection:

* and pics style.com