Christian Dior: Lisa Fonssagrives Lives (Fashion Wire Daily)

Paris - Christian Dior: Lisa Fonssagrives Lives Godfrey Deeny June 30th, 2008 @ 3:56 PM - Paris Beauty as an ethereal phenomena that makes the viewer feel, even be, better from seeing it was the real message at the thoroughly excellent Christian Dior haute couture collection staged Monday in Paris, a requiem for arguably the most iconic model of them all, Lisa Fonssagrives.

Generally credited with being the first ever supermodel, Fonssagrives ghost wafted down the custom made runway in the Rodin Museum in what was John Gallianos best couture collection in half a decade.

Lisas haute gamme elegance was apparent in the opening look, a devilishly well-cut white mega flared wool coat with a huge hip enhancing black patent leather belt. The hips had it throughout the first half, with "Bar belts" and fabric additions curving and swirling up and down.

Galliano had clearly been putting in the hours, as the clothes fitted the models beautifully. That might seem a given in haute couture, but remarkably is not the case with most couturiers.

Fabulous black crocodile jackets paired with sheer skirts, remarkably elegant tulle embroidered flared dresses and a few sliced-by-a-surgeon suits in silk chartreuse were the standouts in a show, powered on by a tremendous Jeremy Healy soundtrack.

Hatter Stephen Jones also put in a remarkable performance, dreaming up studded leather skullcaps with Art Deco spouts or flapper caps encrusted with jewels, mimicking looks worn by Fonssagrives.

"The whole idea came from having a cup of tea two years ago in New York with Irving Penn. We chatted a long time and he told me of the role of Lisa Fonssagrives in his art and work. When I realized her importance, as a figure, a beauty and a sculptor in her own right, I went from there," said a trim Galliano backstage in his parlor. The couturier builds a special room to greet guests in the back stage after every show, this season decorated like the sort of drawing room Noel Coward imagined as a set for one of his plays.

Even the fact that the final model, in an outlandishly over the top tulle dress with fins bigger than any Fifties Cadillac, stumbled on the catwalk only added to the sense of the unique at this great Lisa show.

Swedish born Fonssagrives moved to Paris to study ballet in the Thirties, going on to be a legendary cover girl who worked with such luminaries as George Hoyningen-Huene, Man Ray, Horst, Richard Avedon and Penn, whom she was to marry. In a neat piece of timing, the famous photo of Fonssagrives with elephants is plastered throughout Paris, the ad for a major Avedon retrospective that opened today.

Models appeared from a palatial country house backdrop replete with Old World chandelier, traipsing slowly in the towering heels. Galliano toughened up the mood with some great sadomasochistic platforms in metals chains.

As ever, John drew a great crowd, including Eva Mendes, Janet Jackson, Clotilde Courau, Jessica Christian, Olivier Martinez, Claudia Schiffer, Elsa Zylberstein, Marisa Berenson and Liv Tyler.

"I just loved that show. Johns always so theatrical and the clothes were magical," shivered Tyler in Gallianos mini drawing room.