One of the highlights of this seasons's Pret à Porter in Paris which opened yesterday previewing the spring/summer 07 collections will be Saturday's celebration of Jean Paul Gaultier's 30 years in fashion.
The French enfant terrible in his cheeky sailor stripes who reinvented the corset and dressed Madonna for her Blond Ambition tour is now head of a successful clothing and accessories empire and designs not only for his own label but also for Hermes.
In a week that will see nearly 100 catwalk presentations, Sharon Wauchob from Northern Ireland was one of the first to show yesterday in her regular place on the calendar. Hers is a small but growing independent business and she chose a grand salon in the Sorbonne for a collection which demonstrated yet again her fidelity to her own uncompromising vision of femininity.
In a monochrome line-up, the main play was on jackets that featured shoulders raised in puckered points, their graphic shape offset by skinny low-slung trousers decorated with a thick band of satin. Wauchob is known for her intricate detailing, panelling and decorative effects and her mix of structure and fluidity is part of her style. Some black dresses were very beautiful, like one in chiffon weighted with an enormous ragged rosette and another in concertina pleats with bell sleeves and a plunging neckline. "I felt I wanted to say something new again", Wauchob told The Irish Times. "It is a different kind of femininity. I wanted to play with tailoring and fragility".
Making their debuts in Paris at the show were Irish model Laragh McCann, winner of the Ford supermodel competition in Ireland last year and lingerie designer Caoimhe O'Dwyer, who designed a number of pieces for the collection.
Isabel Marant, a Parisian designer favoured by the city's gilded youth, tweaked fresh variations on the current vogue for layering, mixing puffy little box pleated skirts with T-shirts, vests and closely cropped jackets. It had the offhand air of chic street dressing with Donegal tweed duffel coats, lots of tunic tops and elegant variations on parkas over long chiffon skirts.
Silk blouson dresses and slouchy knits were worn with flat sandals or suede boots, ensuring a stride that was equally confident and easy.