I know you have been anxiously waiting for continued coverage of the Christian Dior 2009 resort collection so I will spare the recap for now.

Tiers are huge in this resort collection. Chanel has everything tiered, dresses, skirts, gowns, you name it. The tiered skirt above is made what I am assuming is some sort of taffeta, you can practically hear the swish when the model walks.  I love the berry candy stripe fabric, they used it to make a beautiful dress as well but I chose to show this look because it demonstrates the fully wearable side of John Galliano’s work for Christian Dior.

You didn’t believe me when  I said that these are the vacation clothes you will be begging for  did you? Well I meant it! Just look at this citrus candy stripe maxi. I love it. Who wouldn’t want to be seen in this dress? I feel cooler just looking at it. The necklace the model is wearing looks like a snake and if it is then I love it even more.

This is a pretty modest look . The color is a little off putting to me, not quite yellow, not quite green.  This is a great dress to do lunch in. Although you may want to show more skin on your holiday this dress is a very chic alternative to the décolletage bearing norm that is resort wear.

I’m just going to come right out and say it. I feel like I have seen this dress before. In the Betsey Johnson store at that. I believe Betsey’s dress was called the gum drop dress, I wonder what the designers at Christian Dior call this dress? Regardless of the rampant similarities both dresses are very cute. This dress has party written all over it and the shoes say “We’ll be dancing all night.”.  Be sure to check www.fashionshanty.com/forums/ for the dress comparison pics.

Yeah here we go again with what appears to be a direct bite on Betsey Johnsons style. Well maybe I am being too harsh. Maybe we should call this paying homage instead. There’s nothing wrong with that Betsey is a style icon herself. The abstract leopard print above really swallows up the stone work on the waist of this dress. I understand the desire to maintain continuity within a collection by using stone embellishments on so many looks this season however in the case of this print I don’t think it does the design justice to have so much physical space competition over the waistline. Especially when the design is strong enough to engulf  anything that isn’t a sold black waistband.

Tiers from heaven? I think not. Something about the color beige doesn’t really set off this gown for me. What I do like about this gown is the  peasant neck line. I do wonder why they sent such a bland colored dress down the runway with no accessories. I know there are times when the dress is embellished enough that you don’t need the extra pop that accessories provide but how could that be true when speaking of this dress? Oh well.

What we have seen of the Christian Dior 2009 resort collection has tasted sweet and almost familiar. You can always count on John Galliano to be consistent. If you see tiers or stripes at the beginning of the show you can be assured you will see them at the end and throughout. This can only mean that Galliano and his protégés were all paying attention in school when covering the principles and elements of design. I loved reviewing the 2009 resort collection for Christian Dior, it reminded that continuity really counts in building a cohesive collection. Bravo John!