Bill Gaytten’s Spring Summer 12 Haute Couture Shanghai Show for Dior [PICTURES]

There has been a lot of excitement recently at Dior with the appointment of Raf Simons as the Artistic Director of Women's Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear and Accessories collections. However, let's not forget about designer Bill Gaytten who took over the temporary reins of the luxury fashion house after the removal of former Creative Director John Galliano.

The 51-year old designer presented the Spring/Summer 2012 collection for the French fashion house in Shanghai on April.14, 2012. For the event, the Dior salons of Avenue Montaigne were recreated down to the last detail and models clad in creations from the collection strutted their stuff to perfection.

The SS2012 collection primarily comprised of ball gowns, pleated skirts and off-shoulder dresses. Shades mainly included basic colours like blacks, whites and crèmes. However, there were also occasional splashes of metallic silvers and purples.

This was the second show by Dior in Shanghai following the Cruise collection earlier presented in the year 2011.

The collection was well appreciated by the critics and visitors, which was vital, especially since Gaytten's last Haute Couture collection was panned by the fashion critics.

Gaytten, who earlier worked as a close associated of Galliano, was not a well-known name in the industry. After he took over following the suspension of Galliano, many believed that he wasn't up for the job and his winter couture collection did nothing but strengthened their beliefs.

A student of the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College in London, Gaytten's first job was with Victor Edelstein. He went on to work with Galliano at both his eponymous label and at Dior.

The winter collection was regarded as disastrous as it comprised a bizarre blend of clownish headpieces and awkward frills. However, it did not take Gaytten a lot of time to learn from this as his subsequent creations were relatively well-received.

According to reports, although he may lack Galliano's flair for courageous, dramatic statements, Gaytten managed to produce consistently pretty, wearable, and Dior-appropriate clothes

Get a glimpse of the Spring Summer 12 Haute Couture Shanghai Show by Gaytten in the images given below: