Hot Couture! Christian Dior Spring 2011 Paris

Beginning in Paris today, Haute Couture Fashion Week kicked off with Christian Dior's Spring/Summer '11 collection. I wouldn't expect anything less than this kind of decadent sophistication from the design house, whose past collections have their roots of inspiration in florals, garden parties, and royalty. This time, the Spring/Summer looks offer John Galliano's whimsy in the form of pencil skirts, pleats, feather-embellished evening gowns, and vintage glamour. The color palette is rich with reds, greens, blues, and then pastel pink and yellow. It's fiercely feminine, as we'd expect, balancing outrageous volume with slim silhouettes; some is totally posh, more severe, then it softens — full of embellishment, oversize bows — to the all-out decadence of evening.