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Tamara's avatar

This is a sharp and well-argued critique, and I find myself nodding along while still feeling the pull of the spectacle Roseberry creates. There’s no denying his ability to craft breathtaking images — his couture is made for the screen, for the still photograph, for the oohs and ahhs. But does it live? That’s the lingering question.

I love the point about past couturiers shaping how women could live, not just how they COULD pose. There’s something thrilling about how Chanel, Balenciaga, and Saint Laurent reimagined movement, autonomy, and ease, I agree — because isn’t that the true magic of couture? Not just what it looks like but what it enables? When you mention the corseted impracticality of Roseberry’s work, I immediately think of Dior’s New Look: revolutionary in silhouette but also a regressive straitjacket for postwar women. It feels like we’re watching a similar dynamic unfold — a master of form, perhaps, but to what end?

That said, I do wonder if we’ve entered an era where couture is ONLY meant to be an idea, an abstraction rather than a functional wardrobe. If that’s the case, then Roseberry is perhaps exactly in step with our times: crafting an exquisite illusion, a couture of dreams rather than lives. Whether that’s a loss or simply a shift is something I’m still wrestling with.

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Allegra Samsen's avatar

Martin how much richer we are for your sharp and probing analysis

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