Face Value

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As you all know by now, I'm fascinated by any sort of head or face covering. At his season's Couture they were ubiquitous. Whether they alluded to the Middle East both present and past, The Arabian Nights! or the Western mid-century modern ('30s, '40s, '50s) ideals of femininity and beauty, the result was the same, the exotic allure of the part-concealed and part-revealed female face. 


Armani Privé by Sarah Mower on vogue.com 
Towards the finale, he sent out graceful dresses in black velvet and midnight-blue sequin, on models whose heads were veiled in crystal-edged face-coverings—a vaguely Arabian Nights counterpoint to the fifties netting seen in other Paris collections this week.





 






Christian Dior by Tim Blanks on style.com
Past and future met again in an evening ensemble that matched the athletic ease of a citron silk knit to the grandeur of a floor-sweeping silk skirt. And the veils that Stephen Jones contributed to the finale may have been from Paris in the 1930's, but there is timeless allure in that look.









Maison Martin Margiela by Nicole Phelps on style.com

The models went incognito behind masks (another old Margiela trope) embroidered with hundreds of crystals. There was no shortage of beads or lace either, but nonetheless the presentation acted as an avant-garde (and eco-friendlier) antidote to the shows that preceded it this week.







Giambattista Valli by Hamish Bowles on vogue.com
Real butterfly specimens kissed the veiled lips of Valli’s mannequins or lit up in their hair, whilst gilded ones perched on the twisting branches that formed the waist-cinching belts or collars created by jeweler Luigi Scialanga.

photographed by Kevin Tachman









If you are also interested in veils, masks, head scarves ...
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