Paris Fashion: Sneak previews

The idea of next season's pre-spring collection snapping at the heels of haute couture, dreamed up a year ago, is now an established fact. And it works especially well for houses that have an intimate quality to their prêt-a-porter clothes.

Boudicca, whose design duo showed a couture line on the runway last season, this time around had a presentation - the better to show the textures of lace and the aquarelle colors of washed lilac, absinthe and palest blue. The dress was the focus for clothes less complex and dramatic than Boudicca's signature look, although slim black dresses with Japanese warrior shoulders and protruding pockets caught the familiar edginess.

At Cher Michel Klein, the designer said he had in mind clients leaving for Christmas holiday vacations when he designed colorful skirts and dresses with an American Apache Indian inspiration. For those thinking more of spring and summer in the city, jersey dresses, knee-length and lean, offered an alternative, with soft washed georgette dresses with draped skirts taking stylish fashion from day to night.

By Suzy Menkes

Via :www.iht.com

Paris Fashion Week: Lacroix and its 20th anniversary show

Lacroix staged its 20th anniversary show at this year's Paris Fashion Week. Lacroix's vision was to recapture the quintessence of women, the elegance that dazzled his childhood fantasies. His return to boyhood, produced a collection inspired by the fashion of the era - big hair and big hats.


Christian Lacroix - 20 years in the business. He presented a sumptuous collection that swathed the body in folds of rich velvet or puffs of feather light chiffon. Let's take a look at some of the highlights of each throught CCTV.com.

Models with hair mounted in huge coifs paraded in coats embellished with ethnic detail like silver studs, rustic embroidery and monkey hair trim.

Lacroix's vision was to recapture the quintessence of women, the elegance that dazzled his childhood fantasies. His return to boyhood, produced a collection inspired by the fashion of the era - big hair and big hats.

Karl Lagerfeld's Haute Couture display for Chanel on Tuesday should have been pure poetry amid a bucolic country estate that was home to Marie Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte. But pluvial seemed more fitting than bucolic, as rain threatened and models paraded under an already dripping awning.

The collection featured sequined shifts with full sleeves attached to the side of the body like tufted and feathered wings.

Via : /www.fashiongates.com