Fall 2013 Review | Oscar de la Renta and Galliano's Magic

Oscar de la Renta Fall 2013 Galliano influence

Oscar de la Renta impacted the fashion media last month with his shocking announcement of John Galliano residing at his studio for the weeks before his show. The big question – How much influence would John Galliano have in this collection?

 Apparently, many wondered the same question, as for when the day finally arrived, de la Renta’s website crashed. For some it took several minutes to access the online live stream. Others had to miss the show, but thankfully, the presentation was replayed several times.

I researched to see if de la Renta ever spoke about what Galliano worked on, but I never got any response. I had to judge the collection based on Galliano’s previous designs at Dior.

Was there any influence of Galliano’s work here?

There was a great amount of Galliano injected into this collection. Makeup and hair resembled a show we would catch if Galliano were still at Dior. The opening jackets had a special tailoring – draped with a bounce of hip augmentation. It reminded me of Mr. Dior’s famous bar silhouettes; those that made the waist smaller and provided those curvy hips. The only difference was those leather belts that reportedly took several days to achieve the desired effect. Cloche hats were classy and provided a nice touch to the overall outfits.

Capes made a presence at the runway that reminded me of Galliano’s last collection for Dior. A black wool dress with a sheer neckline was one of my favorites; luxurious and ladylike.

Oscar de la Renta Fall 2013 eveningwear

If anything was de la Renta, I believe were the use of jacquard prints; simply beautiful. Eveningwear had Don Oscar’s signature after all. It felt at seconds like Dior, but then the structure called for vintage de la Renta.

The most striking ball gown dresses of the night were the final two gold embroidered ones; one in pink, and the other one mulberry Karlie Kloss wore. Cinderella may have some competition now.

Oscar de la Renta at his finale with models Karlie Kloss and Magdalena Frackowiak

Now, there was one thing I could state was the reason why the website crashed. We were all waiting for Galliano to make a presence at the finale. Sadly, it never happened.