UNTIL Alexander McQueen's collection for Givenchy last Thursday, it looked as though Paris designers were proposing that women jettison their suits for next autumn/winter. There was not one tailored number on show for either the petite bourgeoise lunching ladies or cool-headed Wall Street operators.
You could imagine their wrinkled brows of despair when all that could be seen at shows was a legion of sporty separates, or fluttering, gently feminine pieces unlikely to be taken seriously in a boardroom. Fashion at the moment, at least in the imagination of most French designers, is about relaxed, casual ease and is not terribly interested in busy, organised lives.
Imagine the delight, therefore, when Givenchy's power sirens in their pointy-shouldered suits stormed down the runway in dominatrix heels. Here were power suits at their most terrifyingly powerful - partly inspired by the angles of Thierry Mugler's late 1970s take on futurism, partly by the harsh industrial landscape of a Fritz Lang film. The latter certainly seemed the source for prints across trouser suits and dresses, while rhinestone and laser-light decoration gave other pieces the graphic lines of a circuit board.
The McQueen/Givenchy look was the complete antithesis of the sweet romanticism still pervading many other collections. To watch the ethereal prettiness of an Ungaro show - all fluttering prints, embroidered leather, shearling coats and panne velvet peasant skirts with a folkloric theme - and then minutes later to be thrust into Givenchy's ruthlessly hard-edged world helps to explain the polarities that so often occur in fashion at the moment.
Thierry Mugler, definitely one of McQueen's abiding inspirations, has never lost his love of this rather arch glamour look. The big shoulders, nipped waists and curvaceous hips of his tailoring are brightened with flashes of hot pink and flame-orange lining (key colours this season), especially for black dinner suits. However, Mugler is also perfectly adept at producing gorgeous, fluid, satin dresses when he so wishes. The only other suits to make their presence felt in Paris last week were the graceful garconcuts of Yohji Yamamoto's collection - a controlled and steadily evolving presentation of black tailoring and crisp white shirts, shown to the soothingly mellow tones of classic blues music. Each suit was a combination of long slit skirt and jacket gently tweaked to look different in cut and proportion to its predecessor on the catwalk. Yamamoto changed the mood with a tableau of velvet artists' smock coats and squashy jewel-coloured velvet Holbein hats.
Alber Elbaz, the young designer hired by Yves Saint Laurent to take over the design direction of Rive Gauche, always had a near-impossible act to follow. Saint Laurent not only invented ready-to-wear but did most to encourage trousers for women. Elbaz's debut for this label was therefore a critical occasion and the designer wisely chose to take a low-key approach by rejigging some Saint Laurent classics, particularly suits. Tweaking the proportions and cleaning up the lines to give them a more contemporary spirit made sure Elbaz won applause. However, it must be said that trying to improve on Saint Laurent's deservedly-famous Le Smoking tuxedo is a particularly tough task.
To everyone's surprise there were no suits at Dior other than knitted examples which reversed to embroidered silk for evening outfits; obviously the ideal day-into-night costume for women on the go. Dior designer John Galliano worked knitwear for all it was worth, creating voluptuous mohair Aran sweaters tossed over slender camel skirts that buttoned up the back, wrapping a huge fluffy fringed stole around the neck of a sand-beige suede dress and slipping rib knits under pinafore dresses. This soft, tailored look was played out in a palette of ecru, chocolate, burnt orange and teal blue.
Like fellow Brit Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney - house designer at Chloe - has served her time on London's Savile Row. Although there are no reports of her leaving any messages under the lining of a suit for Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles (a close friend of Lord Duoro, deputy-chairman of Chloe's parent company, Vendome Group) came along to the show in Paris to see for herself how McCartney can give gentlemen's tweeds a modern girl-about-town look.
Picking up on the cape theme that had been a running thread through many Paris collections during the week, McCartney's inspiration turned out to be Sherlock Holmes with his signature cape-shouldered coat, which she slipped over slightly flaring cropped trousers, vaguely reminiscent of the 1970s. However, a McCartney/ Chloe show wouldn't be complete without the designer producing her customary charming little flea market lace tops and draped camisoles and quirky little crochet patchwork coats, as well as ritzy silk denim trousers almost moulded to the body and more capelets in shiny sequins which reflect the light like a disco ball.
Tailoring is having a difficult time in fashion right now as the mood has swung so emphatically towards either the clean modernism of sportswear or the eclectic romance of boho-chic. Ungaro's haute hippies and Kenzo's gentle folkloric princesses in blanket wools, chenille knits and ragged shearling coats show how fashion is looking for more delicate, sensuous forms.
Years of minimalism have produced a yearning for old-fashioned femininity and decoration, a look beautifully expressed by both Ungaro and Australian designer Collette Dinnigan. Dinnigan's muse is Paula Yates, who suits the sweet lingerie-as-outerwear look the designer loves. At the same time, a 1970s disco dolly theme perfectly reflects Dinnigan's view on fashion, with lacy slip dresses sprouting ostrich feathers and jet beading, rhinestone decoration and lots of crushed velvet coats in purple and brown. Roll back the years was the theme here.
So it seems as though texture and fabrics, rather than cut and form, are what move fashion forward these days. Hi-tech finishes for sportswear and pretty embellishment for evening, offering a feast for the eyes, are what thrill now. No one works harder at creating exciting new fabrics than Issey Miyake, whose graceful presentation showed extraordinary fabrics apeing the appearance of peeling paint, and pleated forms which were dresses shaped like sea anemones and birds' wings. The effect was totally magical from start to finish.
The alternative to all this individuality is sportswear honed to perfection at Louis Vuitton and Hermes, Paris's two big luxury labels. Hermes, designed by Martin Margiela, showed the easiest, loosest silhouettes - tunics, drawstring coats and pants - in the most luxurious (in other words very expensive) fabrics imaginable. Meanwhile, Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton created simple cashmere sweaters, high-waisted pants and raincoats, all set to "accessorise" the largest, ritziest and most colourful jet set luggage you are ever likely to clap eyes on. With suitcases designed to speak so loudly of success, who needs a power suit?