After reading in WWD, how Ginia Bellafante was being ‘barred’ from Yohji Yamamoto’s show because of the scathing review she gave him last season, (which had her unsuccessfully trying to sneak in with Cathy Horyn’s ticket), I wonder whether Cathy will be blocked from the Celine show next time around. Yikes…she reduced her coverage of Michael’s Paris designs to one sentence, saying that he “floundered with a collection for Celine on Friday that seemed to be one note….”. I do think that Michael is relying too much on what he considers to be his ‘signature’ luxury sportswear, but without adding any irony, sense of humor, or sense of joy. While I did think his show in New York last month had some great items, Celine did not appear to be overwhelmingly inspired, relying on the predictable and expected. Michael was quoted as boasting that in his opinion, the word ‘Michael’ has come to be used as an adjective, which describes his ‘school’ of design. That’s fine, but one can’t just sit back and rely on that philosophy without working on modernizing and refining it.
