PARIS: A few wobbled, one had a dress so constricting it took two minutes to hobble down the catwalk and the collective weight of the models and outfits shattered one of the panes of glass that was covering the runway - but at least none of them fell.
At John Galliano's spring/ summer 2003 couture show for Christian Dior, the height of the Vivienne Westwood-like platform heels and the sheer bulk of the beyond-oversized evening coats and dresses must have made it a model's worst nightmare.
Although nothing new to followers of Galliano's exercises in exaggeration, the volume here had an elegance sometimes missing from his collections. The British designer seemingly combined the swooping lines of a kimono, if you can imagine this, with the weight and swagger of English stately home upholstery.
The sane reaction to the above sentence is to think that no one would actually wear this stuff. Yet Dior is one of the few couture houses which actually sells in comparative volume, even though the cost of a single outfit would be many thousands of pounds.
Dancing, fighting and flinging themselves around, the models were martial arts experts who brought a sense of danger to the proceedings, already fraught because of the height of the heels. At one point they swung chain weapons above the heads of the front row, which seemed a new way of enforcing positive PR: enjoy this show or we'll decapitate you.
Sporting layers of white pancake foundation and pouting with crimson lips, models paraded down the catwalk in impossibly high platform stilettos to a steady percussive thump.
Volume was the key word - silk and taffeta dresses and coats in a rainbow of hues, often elaborately embroidered or adorned with hand-painted designs, billowed out in all directions, sometimes even obscuring the models' faces.
The work of British milliner Stephen Jones added to the flight of fancy, with meter-wide circular hats covered in feathers or a whimsical pair of daisies perched atop the models' heads.
The British designer's typically outrageous show attracted a diverse collection of celebrities, from British actress Elizabeth Hurley to US rapper Eve to the wife of French President, Bernadette Chirac.
Tonight in Paris, Julien Macdonald presents his collection for Givenchy couture, even though rumours concerning his future at the label persist.
However, Macdonald's spokeswoman stated yesterday that she had been in touch with Givenchy's parent company. "They are 100 per cent behind Julien and more than likely will renew his contract at the house when it comes up in April 2004." - (Guardian Service, AFP)