PARIS FASHION:THE DIGITAL worlds of music and fashion collided unhappily during Alexander McQueen's spring/summer collection at the Paris Fashion Show, frustrating the designer's attempts to create international theatre online.
Streamed live on the internet, the site showcasing McQueen's work crashed when singer Lady GaGa tweeted that her new single would be broadcast at the show. In the event, viewers missed a tour de force from a designer who breaks new ground with every collection.
Inspired by the twin themes of nature and modern technology, the wrapped and twisted dresses in engineered prints and reptilian patterns coiled around models weighted down by heavy armadillo shaped platform shoes. This bizarre footwear almost threatened to steal the show along with futuristic robotic camera cranes that snaked after the models along the catwalk.
McQueen is a master of illusion and the silhouettes in the second half of Tuesday night's show were drawn from the dark underworld of the sea. Pretty dresses in filmy waves of "infinity" prints were in watery shades of blue and green with clam like ruffles and phosphorescent sequins. But there were Savile Row touches for the real world like slim cutaway grey coats of impeccable tailoring and frockcoats with "porthole" cut-outs that will satisfy buyers.
Roland Mouret who created the Galaxy superstar frock of 2005 is a designer who knows how a nip here and a tuck there can play cosmetic tricks with body shapes. At his show in Musee de l'Homme in Paris yesterday there were lovely pieces of clever drapery and beguiling dresses cut to flatter, but fake fur epaulettes, fleshy bodysuits and corset dresses won't have long waiting lists.
In a week marked by uncertainty rather than clear direction, with lingerie and transparency in many collections giving way to androgynous tailoring in others, it was left to Marc Jacobs, creative director at Vuitton to have the last say yesterday.
The designer who divides his time between New York and Paris could have taken Bright Lights Big City as his theme for a streetwise spring collection bringing an upmarket commercial vibe to the kind of everyday wear and paraphernalia sported by kids from New York to Tokyo.
The playfulness showed in the patchworked, embroidered tops and swagged tartan skirts. It was there in toffee coloured trench coats, in tweed jackets with military detailing and in shiny PVC trousers or cycle shorts. Accessories drove home the urban theme; models in oversize Afros lugged knapsacks or duffel bags hung with mascots and wearing not killer heels nor towering platforms, but flat moccasins and studded clogs.
"We decided to do something real," Mr Jacobs said afterwards. Maybe that's a sign of the times.