Sarah Mower on the Valentino Fall 2011 Couture collection,

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are really cracking it at Valentino. Their couture show Wednesday morning hit such a note of contemporary romance that it held the audience spellbound with delight and admiration as a dream sequence of long, fragile dresses trailed lightly through the grand salons of the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild.

Piccioli articulated the feeling the duo have been seeking to express since they stepped into their roles at the storied house in 2008. "It's the grace of a woman we've been looking for, " he said. "That's not a word that's used very much today, but we think it's more subversive now to dress like this, with a sense of regality and luxury that has nothing to do with ostentation." - Vogue.com

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The Chanel Fall 2011 Couture collection wasn't my favourite... I found it quite harsh. Having said that, I liked the black ruffled dress and the gold sequined number. x. 

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Christian Dior Fall 2011 Couture. x.

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Hamish Bowles on the Givenchy Fall 2011 Couture collection,

"Purity," intoned Riccardo Tisci, citing the inspiration for his contained but sublime collection of haute couture pieces for Givenchy that the ateliers have been working on for six months. "I try to find the light in the darkness," he continued. "Very pure and soft and fragile; a romantic dream." Tisci finds that "the most beautiful moment in couture is the first calico," and so he kept the palette in the palest beige, ivory, and white for the cottons used for those initial toiles. For Tisci, "white had become very strong - when women want to be sexy and romantic at the same time, white is there." - Vogue.com

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I can't believe Fall 2011 Couture is already here! Let's kick things off with Giambattista Valli. x.

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