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The couture shows are over, but ’tis the season for getting hitched, so I decided to give you a second look at the haute couture brides.

The Chanel bride was probably my favorite. The look was marked by layers of tulle cascading from the veil and down the arms, but the gown itself was very sleek. The banded waist continued Lagerfeld’s tubular theme from the rest of the show and a cascade of beading led down the skirt and pooled into the train. Beautiful!

Gaultier’s bride was the most modern of the bunch with a body-con lace dress and his futuristic caging carrying over into a helmeted, cage-like veil.

Reem Acra is the master at evening and bridal gowns and his couture creation was very fanciful and fairytale-like.

Valentino Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009

Can I be any more of a Facchinetti/Valtentino fangurl?

For the first time, Alessandra Facchinetti seemed less reverential and willing to experiment and step outside the Valentino house iconography. This is her first haute couture collection, but she has had a year to cut her teeth on resort and ready-to-wear and this collection showed that she was certainly ready to step out of the shadow of Valentino’s retirement.

Like a kid in the atelier candystore, she played with shape, texture, and for the first time, took Valentino in a very personal direction. Red dresses still made an appearance, but it was a more subtle nod to the past than in previous collections.

Where her previous collections were a bit of an homage to the departing master, this haute couture collection seemed totally Faccinetti.

Valentino purists will have to get used to the New Jack, but I love the way she’s shaking up the house a bit while still giving us the feminine shapes.

Valentino Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009

Gaultier Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009

All of my favorite models in one show — Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, and Coco Rocha? Swoon!

The Gaultier haute couture show was certainly the most vibrant of the bunch. Models walked wearing colorful feathers and lattice cages over their slinky, Day-Glo gowns. Coco Rocha’s emerald gown with it’s matching feather shrug (here) was one of the most stunning dresses I’ve seen lately.

These might be tough economic times for the rest of us, but there was no shortage of luxury at Gaultier, with fur and leather on many pieces as well as an equestrian theme that gave us leather and suede jodhpurs and a brown fur coat with an overlay of saddle-inspired caging.

John Paul Gaultier’s revealed that his richly colored collection was influenced by ’80’s hacker flick Tron and said of his cage motif:

“Women feel so free nowadays that they are wearing cages again. It’s the ultimate stage in women’s liberation.”

Gaultier Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009

Chanel Haute Couture bride Fall/Winter 2009

So this is what it looks like in Anna Wintour’s closet!

Lagerfeld created an army of Wintourettes in shades of grey sparked with the occasional shot of rosy color — a very classic and grown-up collection from Chanel.

I’ll skip the commentary as there is plenty of it in the video from the Chanel haute couture runway show below.

Christian Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2009

The haute couture creations that John Galliano has done for Christian Dior have been over the top in the most fabulous way, but this season, he pulled the reigns back a bit to create one of his most covet-worthy collections yet.

The 1920’s-era cloche hats? Divine.

Transparent gowns with peek-a-boo panties? More please.

Hair and makeup? Ah-mazing.

Galliano drew influences from Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look, taking structured cuts and remixing them with leather and studs and washes of color. He gave us exaggerated corsets and peplums on everything — coats, day and evening dresses, and even over a sherbet colored gown that teased with a hint of leg under the transparent skirt.

Kudos to makeup maven Pat McGrath for the tranny-fierce over-arched brows that models rocked with their faces pulled tight to make a cat-like eye enhanched by winged eyeliner. Heavy brows and blood red lips next season? Love it!