FASHION: 06 October

Yves Saint Laurent Deflowers Virgins
Always thought we would see the Prince of fashion, Stefano Pilati, standing on a purple runway. Purple rain – no make that purple spring – the leitmotiv of the Spring/Summer 2007 Yves Saint Laurent collection presented Thursday, October 5th, in Paris on a 100-meter long runway of lilacs.  A casting of the world’s best catwalkers trod, trudged and bogged down in the field of lilacs runway in the Grand Palais. A tad eccentric but certainly an eye-catching way to present a slightly over the top – yet very chic – Saint Laurent collection that one senses retailers will adore.  “I wanted to evoke the transition to spring, and violet, which represented modesty, captured that. Plus the flowers also stood for deflowering, in this case virgins,” said YSL’s creative director Stefano Pilati to FWD after the show, embracing a throng of pretty actresses as the bubbly flowed.  Spring had barely broken through in the opening looks, which featured smart gingham coats and skirts, swinging big-sleeved jackets, and some splendidly cut lunch jackets in imperial purple, a Saint Laurent color par excellence.  Pilati also tapped into the house’s Parisian chic with great khaki coat-dresses and intricately made violet lace dresses with beautiful floral embroidery.  For evening, however, there was a tad too many big tasks. Peasants’ dresses for balmy picnics were craftily constructed with lovely slashes of color, but not the easiest of wear, as were the cool, yet rather impractical, white dhoti pants.  The setting was truly impressive. Pilati, appearing from what seemed the Seine river bank to take a long bow, nonchalantly picked up a pair of high heels that got stuck on his catwalk; and the soundtrack, mostly a glorious rambling “Sweet Surrender,” was just right.  However, the lighting was far too dark, rendering the final passages gloomy, and in a baffling moment, the show had actually begun when Janet Jackson and her entourage in a scuffle and shuffle and new best friends, Posh Spice Beckham and Katie Holmes, were arriving. Jackson ended up evicting one critic from the front row, and Holmes and Beckham both were left standing, an awkward coda to a clever and intriguing runway show.

Christian Lacroix targets new young clients
Designer Christian Lacroix showed short skirts and skimpy swimsuits in his spring/summer 2007 ready-to-wear collection on Friday as he tries to win younger clients to help revive the label’s fortunes.  He has also ditched his jeans and cheaper “Bazar” line of clothing for the first time in 10 years to focus on his ready-to-wear and haute couture collections with the aim of taking the brand upmarket.  “I think today we’re in a process of renewal,” Christian Lacroix President Nicolas Topiol told Reuters after the show.  “It’s really this idea of scaling it up and connecting the couture with the ready-to-wear and having a younger target.”  The loss-making label was sold by luxury goods giant LVMH last year to the Falic Group, a privately held U.S. investment company.  Lacroix will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year and Topiol is hoping to keep existing clients and attract the next generation at the same time.  “We’ve got a clientele of a certain age who are still gorgeous and now they have daughters and we can dress them as well,” he said. RED HAIR, MINI DRESSES Short hemlines have been a feature of the Paris ready-to-wear collections this week. On Friday morning, Chanel paraded girls in tiny skirts and Lacroix carried on the theme.  Models with bobbed red hair and wooden platform shoes displayed a range of mini dresses with small sleeves and revealing backs.  One wore a white lantern dress covered with big yellow disks. Another had a red taffeta balloon dress with shaded houndstooth print and a jet embroidered bustier.  Swimsuits sparkled with multicolored embroidery around almost bare stomachs.  Rachel Zoe, a celebrity designer behind the looks of well-known faces such as Americans Nicole Richie and actress Lindsay Lohan, was there to check out the skimpy trends.  “You know what, everything this season is very short. It keeps getting shorter,” she said after the Lacroix show.  But Topiol noted that what designers send down the runway is not necessarily what clients will eventually buy. Hemlines can be lowered and cleavages can be raised in the showrooms. Parisienne designer Sonia Rykiel also went for low backs and short lengths. But her emphasis was on having fun and her models seemed to be enjoying themselves, comfortable in flat sandals and relaxed styles.  They sported sparkling black and white visors and tiaras adorned with flowers to accompany a collection in pinks, whites and yellows.  The backstage was decorated with brightly colored instructions to “pleeeeease smile” and “walk with energy.”  The message from the flame-haired Rykiel to women who might buy her clothes: “Take care of everything — politics, children, illness, the environment.”

Short hemlines dominate Chanel show
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld launched his spring/summer 2007 ready-to-wear collection on Friday with models parading trademark Chanel jackets over underwear-revealing skirts.  Victoria Beckham and actress Katie Holmes sat in the front row as models paraded tiny sequined skirts or short dresses under pink-and-gray striped cardigans pulled over the back of the head.  A tip from Lagerfeld for any potential clients who might be put off by the sky-high hemlines: “If you don’t like it very short then you put it over trousers.”  Chanel shows always draw a star-packed crowd and singers Lenny Kravitz and Kanye West were also in the audience, enjoying the men’s collection.  One model wore a stripy cardigan under a belt with the traditional Chanel logo and another wore an evening style sleeveless black jacket over tight black trousers.  “It was beautiful baby,” Kravitz whispered to the pony-tailed Lagerfeld after the show while West said he particularly admired one outfit decorated with pills.  “I loved a lot of the looks in there,” said West.  Guests to the show were given bags stuffed full of eyecream, and makeup and the models carried the handbags and wore the oversized sunglasses that are all important for profit margins at luxury goods houses.  “I don’t show anything that is not for sale,” said the 68-year-old Lagerfeld.  “Whatever you see on the Chanel runway you can have it in the shop. You have to go early because those things disappear quite quickly and the sales girls have a tendency to hide them for their favorite clients.”  It was the second show of the week for Lagerfeld who presented clothes for the label carrying his own name on Monday.  The Chanel models strutted around a dazzling white stage highlighted by the sunlight streaming through the glass roof of the Grand Palais.  The Palace, which was built for the 1900 World’s Fair near the elegant Champs Elysees avenue in central Paris, also provided the setting for the show of another iconic French label, Yves Saint Laurent, on Thursday night.  Designer Stefano Pilati bathed the entrance in a violet light and girls in spiky-heeled shoes stumbled along a runway was made out of earth and thousands of violets and a violet scent wafted through the building.  He opened the collection with a black and white belted coat and continued with baggy trousers that met at the ankles.  Actress Catherine Deneuve and Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova looked on as he finished with a violet flowery dress with ruffles and a cutaway back.  Paris Fashion Week runs until Sunday.