Paris Fashion Week S 2012: Christian Dior

In the midst of all this talk about who is going to replace John Galliano at Dior and the constant appearances of more and more candidates for the job and crazy rumors (from Marc Jacobs to Alexander Wang), I was really curious to see how the SS 2012 Dior collection was going to look like. As some of you may remember, I was disappointed by Bill Gayten's debut as head designer for Dior in July, because I felt that all the originality, showmanship and craftsmanship previously associated with the House of Dior had vanished only to leave its place to a confused design concept and a slightly immature designer, even though Gaytten had been working alongside Galliano for a very long time. I was also probably influenced by the very sudden way this change happened, because nobody would have expected something like this to happen.

Maybe it was the pressure of a first collection as a head designer, that of starting off with nothing more and nothing less than an Haute Couture collection or the incredible pressure of having all eyes on him as a successor of Galliano that led to the dull July collection, but things seem to be going much better for Gaytten this time. Though much more demure than in the Galliano-era, the SS 2012 collection is very interesting and cohesive. The daywear looks have quite similar shapes as those from Gaytten's July show, but they are less exaggerated. The huge plus point of this collection in my opinion are the gowns - sheer, flowy materials, flattering shapes and muted colors occasionally mixed with a dash of black (like the one in the opening photo - simply stunning!). But I'll let you be the judge! I haven't edited as much as usual, so you'll find slightly more photos than usual to help you with your decision.

Here is my selection of the most interesting looks from the runway:

What's your opinion on this collection? Do you also think it was an improvement compared to Bill Gaytten's first show? What are your favorite looks? 

Photos: vogue.fr

PS: On a completely different note, I've been playing with the template of my blog lately because I felt that after a bit more than a year and a half on the web it needed a fresh look. You'll get to see it pretty soon... maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow! Please tell me what you think about it :)