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SHORT REVIEW: POWER PATTERNS TAKE CENTRE STAGE
LONG REVIEW: In a season full of dark clothes, sombre silhouettes, it’s good to see Dries Van Noten providing a gorgeous alternative to aesthetic austerity. His collection majored on print and prettiness. Multi-coloured marbled, feather and flower patterns featured on everything from coats to trousers and evening dresses. Van Noten also sees chiffon as a year round fabric. Wispy, semi sheer dresses and tunics were amongst the key pieces even though this is a winter collection. They were worn in layers over trousers and under warm coats in wool and fur. This mix of light and heavy is a key theme running through the international collections. CLAUDIA CROFT
COMME DES GARCONS: SO BAD IT’S GOOD
SHORT REVIEW: BAD TASTE IS THE THEME FOR KAWAKUBO
LONG REVIEW: Rei Kawakubo was celebrating the energy of bad taste this season and referenced a litany of fashion crimes including, cute heart motifs, leopard print, bubble gum pink, polkodots, prom dresses and plain white bras worn on the outside. In Kawakubo’s creative hands however, these things were so bad they were good. She cleverly played around with proportion, cut peek-a-boo holes in things and generally ran amok. There was a kinky edge to the collection too, in the lip shapes cut into jackets and rimmed with garter frills, and there were hints at bondage with deconstructed pinstripe jackets held together with straps and a frou frou white prom dress encased in a black ribbon cage. It signified an interesting move away from the child like themes of previous collections. CLAUDIA CROFT
SHORT REVIEW: An evocative show, that told a story through clothes.
LONG REVIEW: Fashion shows don’t usually have a narrative and when they do it is usually the silly sort. But Junya Watanabe gave us a show laced with gravitas and poetic thought. It began with models in long, dark, draped clothes, their faces and sculpted hair shrouded with black chiffon. They appeared to signify the dignity of mourning but their grief and their veils were eventually lifted. The show closed with clothes strew with optimistic flower prints. Perhaps it was the elongated shapes and the oversized hairdos wrapped in chiffon, but it brought to my mind stories of all the grieving First World War women who had to soldier on without their men. In fact everyone who watched it had different stories running through their heads. Watanabe provoked all this thought and took in some trends too. If you are looking for a very wearable version of the long lean skirt (a key silhouette for Autumn), then Watanabe had it. CLAUDIA CROFT
SHORT REVIEW: Say no to gimmicks and yes to great clothes
LONG REVIEW: “No. No. No” boomed the sound track as the first model thundered down the catwalk. Her gray wool coat, echoing the music, had the word “No” moulded onto its breast in oversized letters. The show oozed angry energy and almost everything was emblazoned with either “No” or “Wow”. The sloganeering, worked on sweatshirts but looked overplayed on everything else especially the fur coats. Even when it was cleverly rendered in chiffon for an evening dress it felt like a protest too far. A more successful motif was provided by bold gold staples which defined seams or gathers and reigned in volume. CLAUDIA CROFT
SHORT REVIEW: High-tech fabrics, a futuristic vision and plenty of fashion daring create a bold new look.
LONG REVIEW: From the very first outfit this Balenciaga collection made the heart beat faster. Out came three classic black cocktail dresses re-imagined, in wool or silk, which had been bonded to special foam. This created silhouettes so smooth and precise that they looked like injection moulded, futuristic fashion sculptures. Designer Nicholas Ghesquiere is rare because he doesn’t rely on nostalgia to give his work emotional impact. He believes in the future more than the past but his great skill is in making something that we’ve never seen before look familiar and suddenly desirable. These truly were 21st century LBD’s.
Ghesquiere can also make something we’ve all see before, in this case needle heeled pointy shoes and glittering diamante costume jewellery worn at the throat and wrists, sing with newness (buy shares in diamante, as thanks to Balenciaga, this is going to be a huge accessories trend for Autumn). As if that wasn’t enough, the show finished with an extraordinary display of artisanal skill. Out came a parade of Latex sheath dresses, which were hand painted to with oriental scenes and beaded by hand. Rumours, that if they ever do make it to a shop, they will cost upwards of £50,000 are probably not exaggerated. It was an awesome display of design ideas. CLAUDIA CROFT
SHORT REVIEW: A sixties look with no surprises
LONG REVIEW:
What is the fashion world coming to when the most grabby thing about a collection is the hats? Stephen Jones provided some spiffing headwear to go atop John Galliano’s sixties retro fest for Dior, but the clothes, although beautifully done and rendered in full Technicolor, were too familiar to offer any real surprises. The collection was inspired by the Marc Bohan era at the house. He was the designer who took over after Yves Saint Laurent left to start his own label. The models, with eyes ringed with heavy eyeliner and hair teased into the kind of huge bouffants worn by Sixties sex symbols Raquel Welch and Baby Jane Holzer, stepped onto the catwalk to the strains of Simon and Garfunkel. They wore brightly coloured boxy suits - some in crocodile or ostrich leather others with bejewelled hem - snappy little printed shift dresses and bubble hemmed evening gowns. Galliano did pack a punch with his vibrant choice of colours, which do provide a shock to the modern palette - but the trouble with such a slavishly retro look is that unless a designer puts some kind of contemporary spin on it, then it just becomes an indulgent exercise in fashion history. CLAUDIA CROFT
 There was a lots of fun and frolics on the Sonia Rykiel catwalk yesterday as the girls, for the finale, danced in sherbert chiffons down the runway. Sonia never fails to disappoint and her collection had butterfly sleeves, lightweight knits and the girls danced to the tunes of "Mellow Yellow"...
By Sara Hassan
 The colour and pattern at Leonard was totally exquisite and one of my favourites this fashion week in terms of commercial wearability ...there was lots of pinks, greens, blues and tons of yellow, it really was a feast for the eyes. I particulary loved the one piece swimsuits which were styled with large beach bags. The patterned jump suits in silk jersey looked fabulous too. By Sara Hassan
Picture from Catwalking
 Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is certainly getting ready for the Summer Olympics in Beijing as he sent models down the runway bedecked in futuristic sportwear. The show started off with a Flash Gordon kind of feel, with gold spikey shoulders and block colours such as reds and bright greens...but this moved into the real spectacle...the sportwear. Paying hommage to Mohammed Ali, he printed his face onto stars and stripe sequin dresses and he even designed a dress in sequins made out of black and white football print. There were lots of primary colours, plastic jumsuits and modern sporty parkas. My favourite has to be the larger than life lego jewellery and the fabulous D-J's all dressed in stripes and dancing to some top tunes. Sara Hassan
McCartney fixed on a super feminine look for her collection, which was full of must-have pieces. From the maxi or mini length jump suits to the neat belted safari tailoring, tiny quilted silk waistcoats or the silk dresses cut like coats but fluid and light it all looked wearable and wantable. McCartney channeled the wholesome, outdoorsy sexiness of the girl in the Timotei ads - especially when a string of faded, floral semi-sheer dresses at the end. That said it never got caught in a retro cul-de-sac. It looked light, sexy and very fresh. McCartney is at the top of her game. Claudia Croft
All hail Kirsten McMenamy. The original grunge era supermodel demonstrated to her younger colleagues the meaning of fierce when she took to the Givenchy catwalk. McMenamy was a favourite of Stephen Meisel back in the early nineties and was famed for her ‘mental patient’ crop and anti-pretty brand of beauty. She's lost none of her attitude. Now hair is now long and she proudly wears it grey. Givenchy designer Ricardo Tisci has a thing for empowered, maverick women. His other muse is Courtney Love who watched from the front row. Tisci’s clothes, just like his women are uncompromising, strong and not to everybody’s taste. He eschewed the soft fluid fabrics seen elsewhere in Paris and opted for a more structured silhouette with asymmetric pleated skirts, nipped in jackets and tapered trousers cut wide over the hips then tapering down to the ankle. His colour palette favoured the dark side and his prints (oversized grey spots on a black ground) could hardly be described as jaunty. Some of it looked overcomplicated and heavy but when Tisci got it right (those trousers in particular looked great) he provided a somber antidote to the frippery of the season. Claudia Croft
 The Christian Lacroix show was a little big crazy, colourful, yet beautfiul. The models wore such a fabulous colour palette, it felt like the we were in Africa rather than Paris. Shoes were embellished with mosaic mirror and hats resembled mini chiffon printed umbrellas. There were some really modern references too with pink bomber jackets and cut out swimsuits...all however in the most mind blowing hues and patterns. My favourites were the blue and pink metallic offerings. This blue dress in kingfisher blue was decorated with applique and african inspired fringing.
By Sara Hassan
 Sophia Kokosalaki is back on track and her collection has to be one of the best I have seen so far at Paris fashion Week. Known for her pleating, folding, and draping of fabrics, she has moved it forward by using delicate beadwork and adding angular folded satin mini skirts to the mix. She sent models down the runway wearing romper suits and bloomers, key items for next spring summer. John Lennon oversized round metallic sunglasses accessorized her looks.
By Sara Hassan
Photo courtesy of catwalking
Valentino took his bow for the last time on the ready to wear catwalk. The legendary designer will present one more couture show here in January before hanging up his golden scissors and retiring. His farewell ready to wear show was a celebration of the chic, expensive, feminine aesthetic that he has perfected over his 45 year career but it wasn’t, as many had predicted, a greatest hits collection. Valentino wasn't in the mood to look back and instead presented a contemporary collection aimed squarely at his modern super rich clients. Fondant coloured day dresses, and colourful coats quickly gave way to a parade of sassy little cocktail dresses that all stopped mid-thigh. Then came the long dresses that have made him a favourite with the glitterati. They came in sheer flesh toned lace, liquid silk and printed chiffon. There were frill hemmed mermaid gowns, strapless pink columns and only two of his signature red evening dresses. The variety was overwhelming. And if it all looked a little random, then so be it. Valentino has never gone in for over the top themes or motifs. His clients - celebrities, royals and the international jet set - are foremost in his mind. They (and their wardrobes) will certainly miss him. Claudia Croft 
Pirates of the Caribbean may have been a blockbuster movie but does it make for a blockbuster fashion collection? Jean Paul Gautier certainly thinks so. He dressed his models as Jack Sparrow, in billowing shirts, jodhpur trousers and pirate hats. Disassemble the look and you have some great pieces – the trousers in particular are bang on trend, but all together it looked overwhelming. It was a classic case of styling over content. Claudia Croft
Always a pioneer, Hussein Chalayan has gone beyond the traditional fashion show format and decided to debut his collection with a mini movie, directed by Nick Knight and with a soundtrack by Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. It raises interesting questions (as Chalayan usually does) about the way the fashion industry communicates its message. In the digital age, must we add to the carbon footprint by converging on Paris in order to watch models parade real life garments in the flesh? Chalayan thinks not. We watched the movie on a screen in an art gallery but it is also being broadcast on Knight’s website http://www.showstudio.com The end result was a unique collaboration between three huge creative talents. As a way of showing his clothes, it worked up to a point. I understood the silhouettes, and jotted down the key pieces but it left me wanting more. Namely, to see the clothes in the flesh and to get an idea for the weight of the fabrics and the finer details of the designs which don’t quite communicate on film. Maybe I’m being old fashioned but it would have been good to see the clothes on a rail too. Claudia Croft
Rei Kawakubo, the creative force behind Comme des Garcons is a difficult woman to pin down. She once responded to all the questions in an interview by showing the journalist a simple drawing of a circle. She was in a similarly non-communicative mood after her latest Paris show and declined to offer any explanation for the collection, preferring to let the audience work it out for themselves. She gave us a
clue with the cartoons and video games she projected onto the floor of her show space. The clothes were a madcap mix of fabrics and genre. A typical outfit might have two tailored jackets one pinstripe one flannel layered up and worn with a skirt made from giant squares of fabric of random provenance - cotton stripes, nylon track suit material and a print of 18th century wig designs. Skirts looked like tutus from the front and stretchy bandeaus from the back, the left half of a jacket was worn but not the right and a flat foam cut out of a party dress was fused onto the front of an outfit. So what to make of it all? I’ve thought long and hard about it. I know what I think it is about, but in the spirit of Comme des Garcons I’ll let you fathom it out yourself. Claudia Croft
Pierrot was the starting point for the fanciful Dutch designers but the collection wasn’t all clown outfits. The harlequin motif recurred as a print and on the heels of the shoes. Pierrot’s ruff also decorated necklines on tunic dresses and was exaggerated into a tiered ruff cum mackin 
tosh. Less appealing were the long satin evening columns which hobbled the models and a set of life size satin violins worn as a necklace, which looked silly as opposed to witty. It was feminine and playful but somehow not as charming as it could have been. Claudia Croft
That sums up Balenciaga’s stand out collection. The audience, which included Catherine Deneuve and Clemence Poesy, knew they were in for something challenging when they arrived at the show space to find the usually clean concrete floor covered with a splashy floral carpet (the kind that you might expect to find in an old people’s home). It was a hint of things to come.
The show opened with a parade of tiny, floral dresses. The bold flower
prints (hydrangeas, daffodils and pansies) were culled from the Balenciaga archive, but re-coloured in vivid shades for a startling and modern look. Structure was the message. Each outfit had exaggerated round shoulders a tiny waist and a little tulip shaped skirt that jutted out over the hips like mini panniers.
Designer Nicholas Ghesquiere is not afraid to follow his own fashion instinct. Whilst other designers have focused on fluid sensual fabric, Ghesquiere created his sculptural clothes with a stiff techno-fabric developed especially for the house. Traditional couture fabrics like gazar and radzimir were backed onto a special foam, which was then cut with an ultra-sound machine and bonded or laced together for a startling seamless effect that felt futuristic.
Yet there was plenty of history in the collection. As well as archive prints, Ghesquiere referenced the pod and sack-back coats and jackets that Christobal Balenciaga pioneered.
What makes Ghesqiere’s approach so interesting is his ability to approach history without nostalgia. He is not in thrall to the glamour of a bygone era. At Balenciaga, the old is always at the service of the new, which is why Ghesquiere’s clothes feel so very now. Claudia Croft
At Margiella the focus was on the crotch. Stretchy skirts stopped there, as did jackets and tiny dresses. One model appeared to be doing a Britney on the runway; she was totally knickerless in a pudenda-baring dress. Was it a deliberate fashion statement or a wardrobe malfunction? A PR for the avant-garde brand claimed that her privates were not on parade and that she had in fact been wearing the latest must have accessory - a prosthetic pudenda made from wax. This prompted one high flying Australian fashion girl to exclaim “I can’t believe they gave her a wax Wendy!” Only in Paris. Claudia Croft
 Loved the quirky bikinis at the Undercover show last night with a slight Lara Croft twist. Within the collection there were some fabulous accessories going down such as primary coloured globe trotters covered in a film of plastic and topped off with a studded spider logo.
Eyewear is especially big on the runway for Spring summer and there were bonkers visors at both Undercover and Martin Margiela. Today, even Sophia Kokoslaki had oversized Lennon-esque metallic sunnies.
By Sara Hassan
Image courtesy of catwalking
 Oh how I loved Maison Martin Margiela show last night! The colour scheme was so simple, comprising merely of beige, black and white....very body con indeed. It felt quite 80's inspired and there were lots of sports wear references too with lycra wrist bands and dark visor glasses. The knitwear was so light it floated like water. I also loved the skirts which were short at the front and long and fish-tail like at the back or visa versa...thumbs up for another cracking show by Margiela.
By Sara Hassan. Image courtesy of Catwalking
It has been a year of soaring high points for Dior. The brand’s celebration of its sixty years in business culminated in a couture show and party at Versailles that was so lavish you wondered what the comedown would be. On Monday we found out. Set against the froth and fireworks of recent Dior showings, the spring/summer 2008 collection was something of a reality check. The focus was on elegant, well-cut clothes with silhouettes referencing the twenties thirties and forties. Most of it was mined from Galliano’s own archive. From the myriad versions of the bias cut dresses he revived early in his career, to the sexy, Dietrich style trouser suits that are an established Galliano signature, this collection was full of familiar favourites – some of them a little too familiar. When one black satin trouser suit came down the catwalk, a woman next to me said “I’ve got that suit already. I bought it in 1995.” The trouble with reviving your own revival is that taste catches up with you. What looked daring in the early nineties, isn’t half as ravishing fifteen years later. Many of the ideas that were so fresh back then have already trickled down the fashion food chain and been appropriated by the high street. Pop into Debenhams occasionwear department and you will find Galliano inspired bias cut dresses aplenty and nippy little jackets to wear with them. The aesthetic however appealing is very recognisable. The difference of course is that the Dior version is exquisitely made, from the finest fabrics (no lumpy seams here). Perhaps Galliano couldn’t resist retracing his steps. After all, the ‘Old Galliano’ look (which is how fashion insiders refer his pre-Dior aesthetic) is a touchstone for the season. Several designers have referenced the bias cut, romantic splendour of early nineties Galliano. Ralph Lauren, with his fluttering floral tea gowns, was just one.
Coming soon! Or not that soon, in the case of London...
(Picture from Richard Gin)
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