It is a curious feeling to have so strongly weighed in on both the accessories and the beauty of a show and yet have so little to say about the actual clothing, but  that is the predicament we are in for Christian Dior's Spring 2009 collection. We have long been aggravated by John Galliano's half baked attempts at intellectualizing his inspirations when clearly the mish mash of ideas that combines to create his genius final product has very little to do with any concrete or linear thought process. Literalism has never been his strong suit.

So the vague inklings of tribalism that found their way into the accessories is only the barest hint at a coherent theme for us. Aside from the bizarrely impractical 80s sheer throwbacks, the collection was largely cinched waist dresses, halter top minis, and select wild prints, indeed they were garments that never went over the edge. In fact, if we hadn't had the distraction of the hair and accessories we might not have noticed that this collection was fairly prosaic. And that is an adjective we haven't associated with John Galliano in a long time.