If it was the Japanese designers who took Paris by storm in the 1980s and drove us into wearing black, it was that country's turn yesterday to provide one of the most forward-looking and beautiful collections shown so far this week at the Prêt à Porter.
Naoki Takizawa may not be a familiar name in Ireland, but the show he presented for Issey Miyake in the stark white surroundings of the Museum of Modern Art was fresh, modern and inspiring. You could have hung these clothes on the wall as easily as in the wardrobe.
Takizawa has worked with the master since 1989 and only came into the limelight in l997 when he took over the Miyake collections under his own name, continuing a tradition of experimentation and innovation. A huge contingent of Japanese press and buyers dominated the audience and there was much bowing and smiling on the long wooden benches before the show began.
It may be common practice in fashion today to adapt common global sportswear motifs, but in Takizawa's skilful hands it took on a new meaning. Tight trousers laced like sneakers were actually an extended part of the sneakers themselves; you could call them shoe pants. Jackets were shaped and cinched through clever circular panels under the arms, a new way of getting a feminine, flared effect.
Simple laser printed T-shirt dresses had skirts that swayed out gracefully through the use of fine wiring stitched in neon colours. The effects and the colours were very dramatic.
Familiar details like backpack laces were given a new elegance on white waterproof coats, while jackets were cinched at the back with little Velcro straps.
There were cheeky, romantic touches; a long, pretty dress in blue and orange panels exposed a candy-striped underskirt. Cutting was ingenious; a simple top and skirt had no visible seaming or stitching.
As for the gel-faced models, they wore strips of light reflecting silver around their heads that flashed as brightly as the unusual abstract decor around their necks. One felt that the man could take any trend and make it his own.
Dries Van Noten is another designer who goes his own modest way, drawing much on ethnic dress, but in modern forms. It didn't need the beautiful ambiance of the Ecole des Beaux Arts to convey some of the romance of these beautiful clothes for women of any age or shape who appreciate fabrics, textures and handwork.
There was a touch of Victorianism in the long white cotton dresses with drawstring necks and the models with their tousled, wispy buns and flat pumps, but his signature long embroidered coats, waistcoats and full skirts were combined in "take it or leave it" ways.
A ruffle skirt under a fitted jacket could be replaced with another embellished with flock pearls or black glass beads or a dress of overlapping panels of pistachio muslin. Silver coats and silver shorts seemed the only jarring notes in an otherwise controlled, subtle and very lovely spring collection.