To a crowd at Paris’ Palais Tokyo that included the likes of American actress Meg Ryan (who, incidentally, hadn’t attended a public event in some two years), Lebanese designer Georges Chakra presented 50 looks that were largely ‘50s inspired. There were plenty of off-the-shoulder bustiers that sprouted into full, circle skirts and pageant-like one-shoulder dresses. There were also snug, mermaid gowns; minis; high-slit numbers; and, of course, a finale wedding dress.
These silhouettes were then painted in gaudy color combinations: a bold mix of metallics, primary colors, and monochromatic shades. There’s no doubt that Chakra can cut a dress, but what he had his petites mains stitch together was nothing short of a collage of errors. How else one can explain the electric-shock flames, the Christmas tinsel inserts, the ink-splotch skirts? The nonsensical graphic stripes and enormous gray ribbon at the hip of a navy dress? This last symbol, we might add, is sometimes used to promote awareness of borderline personality disorder.
The show notes wrote of a woman of taste, character, and heart who is transfixed with psychedelic fabrics with velvet accents, floral prints, and enflamed ribbons. From the looks of this collection, however, we wish Chakra had simply stuck to one personality trait and developed that story rather than lead us on a visual carousel that left our heads spinning.
