Givenchy's Couture Flight Of Gothic-Iberian Fancy

Italian designer Riccardo Tisci showed a collection for space-age majas in black widows’ weeds today. And for those of us who just want a blue sequined jumpsuit and feathered evening shorts.

How much does this particular look call to mind the Duchess of Alba, hmm?

The show started a reported 40 minutes late, apparently because the singer Ciara had not yet made her entrance. (For her tardiness, she was booed.) Other front row faces included Lou Doillon, Paz Vega, and the inescapable Kanye West and Amber Rose.

Many of the looks were paired with round, wide hats that projected like grim modern lampshades. I love the way the ruffles on that dress are unwound, flattened, and deconstructed as they travel up the bodice — it’s a maneuver that really takes away from their natural tendency toward fussiness.

You know, if I were going to spend eleventy-squillion dollars on a couture outfit, I probably wouldn’t choose a pair of long wool shorts and a fencing jacket with a gigantic bullseye on the front. But that’s just me.

Or, for that matter, a jumpsuit that says, “My other spaceship is a modified Corellian freighter.”

It’s Givenchy, so of course Lara Stone, Tisci’s sort-of muse, would make an appearance. In an ostrich feather vest that makes me wanna bundle up in the nearest sheepskin, no less.

More ruffles! Somewhat overwhelmingly feminine, this dress.

In fact, sort of as for Marc Jacobs last season, ruffles were a touchstone for Tisci this time around.

It’s nice to see lingerie-as-outerwear treated as something other than a ’50s pin-up post-feminist joke or an ’80s Madonna trash glam reference. However: this still looks like the costume of a very lachrymose superhero.

What’s intriguing is Tisci’s choice to work in such an array of different textures within this one, remarkably cohesive, collection. Sequins, lace, feathers, chiffon, crepe, and what looks to be duchesse satin — all of these factor in to the silhouettes. It could have been very busy, but instead it looks deliberate and mostly beautiful.

And the shocks of color, when they come, are welcome. This dress is just drop-dead gorgeous.