Paris's fairies still produce the stuff of dreams

Tag : coral velour


What does it say about the economic state we're in that one of theworld's most extravagant indulgences is, if not exactly kicking,most certainly alive? Maybe nothing: the super rich are now so richthat nothing can touch them. And perhaps everything. This is not aneat, easy-to-graph economic downturn.

Frustratingly, for those who like life to follow a more or lesslogical trajectory, couture has turned out not to be a dinosaurafter all. It has adapted and survived. It has found a way to livein an age when denim, velour and the £3 party dress seemed tobe the future. Just as the private-aircraft company NetJets hasfound a foothold in a world where 50p flights to Klagenfurt becamea reality. Actually, thanks to revelations about £3 dresses,the kind of people who used to think that spending thousands ofpounds on an outfit was as bad as driving a 4x4 are having toreconsider lifelong prejudices. At least the folk responsible forthe fairy stitches on a piece of French couture enjoy 35-hourweeks, a decent wage, luncheon vouchers and maternity healthcarelike you wouldn't believe.

The fairy stitchers had their work cut out at Dior. They always do.John Galliano's diaphanous homage to Lisa Fonssagrives, the Swedishmodel who became Mrs Irving Penn in 1950, featured wide, swooshingskirts, Fifties prom dresses and wasp-waisted jackets with whooshythings - exuberant bows, foulards and so forth - going on at thenecklines. Galliano being Galliano, the big skirts were vast - NewLook by way of CGI. And the prom dresses - in pistachio, blushpink, mauve - were boned, yet light as soufflés, sheer yetstructured and worn over underwear that was part leotard, partstrapless basque. One big paradox wrapped in frilly tulle clouds,worn with the by now de rigueur clompy shoe-boot, although this,too, was pistachio, blush pink and mauve. Perhaps the trend forcounterpointing a pretty dress with the kind of black footwear thatlooks as if it has been designed by an orthopaedic surgeon with aweakness for S&M is over. Perhaps we're witnessing the returnof completely, unashamedly, full-blown, no-irony-intended,saccharine prettiness, the like of which has not been seen sincethe Fifties. If so, I blame Mad Men.

The point about shoes is not merely a detail, by the way. For shoesare fashion. To be specific (as Lanvin's Alber Elbaz was when Iasked him whether he agreed): “Heels are fashion.” He'sright. You can wear anything from any decade of the last centuryand make it look contemporary, provided that you have a now sort ofheel. (I thought you should know that before you rush off for threefittings at Dior in a pair of kitten mules).

Mind you, jewellery is giving footwear a run for its money as an Ititem. At Anne Valérie Hash (worry not if she is not ahousehold name chez vous, despite being part of couture week since2001; her shows are still low key and she is determinedly niche, asort of Joan Baez of fashion) dresses were trimmed with glass cutto look like shards of coral, or clamped with black enamelbreastplates by Naomi Filmer. Pearls are going to be huge, too - toprove the point Armani made an entire top out of them. At Chaneljewels (both real and fake, just as Coco would have wished) werescattered across necklines or woven in to straps. The signaturetweeds looked sweltering. Karl Lagerfeld was playing withthree-piece skirt suits, which in tweed is probably at least onepiece too many. Admittedly, yesterday was baking hot and we were ina very grand greenhouse (the Belle Epoque Grand Palais), but I'mnot sure anyone dresses like that any more. The eveningwear had aglorious imperiousness to it: Grace Kelly in the early Sixties,formal but very glamorous. No sheer wisps here, but thick silks andduchesse satins chopped into puffy columns, some with vastfunnel-shaped sleeves, or necklines weighted down with silk rosesthat tumbled down the back into a hood - all in black, white andshades of grey. The elasticated or ruched waistlines were anexcellent thought, making that glacial stiffness seem much moremodern.

Anne Valérie Hash clearly questions what modern elegance isto dresses. Hers often seemed to be sliced from a single length ofmaterial. I like how she manages to make a one-shouldered silkall-in-one look supremely elegant, and the way that she worked adirty flesh colour (a cross between camel and pink: pamel perhaps?)into her collection. The occasional white gazar dress looked oddlymother-of-the-bride, even if it did boast top-folded seams. Andoddly, the dresses don't photograph as well as they look in reallife. Perhaps that's why they aren't regulars on any red carpet.

Armani had that pinky beige, too. So did Dior. In fact, there wereseveral common threads between Armani Privé and Dior.Armani's jackets were nipped-in and square-shouldered and hadexotic necklines: ripple fronts, bows, etc. The effect was muchsharper, less heavy, than usual. As for the trousers, peg-leggedand high-waisted they looked strangely on the money, now that theinfluential Stefano Pilati has revived them at YSL. I wouldn't besurprised if Armani weren't about to have a bit of a moment again.There were full skirts, too, including a strapless beadedfull-length dress that had front page of Hello! stamped all overit. “Sorry girls, that one's mine,” mouthed aresplendent yet foxy Dame Helen Mirren to the rest of her front-rowcompatriots, who included Claudia Cardinale, a Thai princess andLady Helen Taylor.

Since you ask, Dame Helen was wearing a shimmering bronze Armanijacket, black Armani trousers and Zara gladiator/bondage platforms.(Remember what I said about the shoes?)