Paris Fashion Week: Snow flurries in Paris did not deter celebrities like Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson and Roman Polanski from attending Dior's "Gothic Chic" collection held in the Grand Palais last night.
Modelled by an army of blondes in shades and bandannas, this was John Galliano in harsher gear with tough clothes for tough girls. Galliano can do what he likes; Dior is owned by LVMH, the world's leading luxury goods company whose turnover in 2005 exceeded €14 billion, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.
Black fur, leather and snakeskin underlined the dark glamour mood, as did the jackboots and steel stilettos. Sleeves were fringed with Mongolian lamb and wide shoulders emphasised the broader shape.
Not many women could emulate the Amazonian looks of Erin O'Connor sweeping down the runway in a floor-length white trench belted with the collection's key accessory, a huge silver buckle. It would certainly take courage to wear a long black leather coat with enormous pockets and a holster bag on the hips, but shapely felted or linen jackets in coal black or anthracite along with sparkle sunglasses could set fashion fires alight.
The man who once dressed Madonna as a Goth is Nicolas Ghesquière, now designer at Balenciaga, whose collection with its references to the Spanish master's l960s standaway collars and bell skirts has been hailed as fresh and modern. Balenciaga is all the rage in Paris at the moment, with an exhibition opening on Friday in the Mona Bismarck Foundation and a major retrospective at the Louvre in July.
Singapore designer Andrew Gn, formerly of Balmain, is said to dress "bourgeois princesses". This low-key glamorous collection could have dressed any stylish urbanite; prim little suits were decorated with fur collars and jet jewellery, skirts were flirty or ballerina shaped, and neat cable knits accompanied sleek grey trouser suits.
Dries Van Noten went his own way, as usual, with rich, decorative fabrics and easy, desirable shapes. He put brocade waistcoats over duster coats, showed jackets with sloping shoulders, tied the arms of long cardigans over printed dresses and sent tent coats and smocks, some heavy with border brocade, down the golden runway on golden high heels. "It's what you always ever wanted to wear," sighed an American buyer afterwards, echoing the general response.