By Jess Cartner-Morley (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-29 07:17

PARIS: While the real world ponders the prospect of global recession, we in the fashion industry have been mainly thinking about coral. Not saving Caribbean reefs, or anything useful like that, you understand, but clothes that look a bit like it.

Paris haute couture was linked by an underwater theme last week: At Chanel, I saw a dress inspired by a sea anemone; at Jean Paul Gaultier a chiffon tunic masquerading as a jellyfish; and at the couture studio of Roger Vivier, a sandal with a heel fashioned after a hunk of coral.

Above and inset: Models present creations by French designer Jean Paul Gaultier during Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture collection show in Paris. AFP

At the Musee de la Mode et du Textile, there was a party for an exhibition curated by Christian Lacroix, in which he has taken the themes - "patchwork", "cobwebs", "Spanish style" and "ceremony" - and grouped together pieces from the museum's fashion archive with outfits produced by his own ateliers in his 20 years as a couturier.

Lacroix's understanding of how and why waists, buttonholes and sleeves evolve and colors segue in and out of fashion is brought vividly to life; the dresses here are rich not just in fabric and embroidery but in layers of meaning and history.

Lacroix presented his latest collection of haute couture, which he described as a meeting of French style with 1950s Americana. There were crinoline skirts and long, elegant tulle gowns, emerald greens and candy pinks.

John Galliano at Christian Dior also has the silken skills necessary to make what would in lesser hands be a deafening racket of color, embroidery and flounce into something utterly beautiful. A satin cocoon coat in absinthe green, the back curved like a polished turtle shell, or a crimson silk jacket stitched into crocodile-skin squares worn over a petticoat of rich scarlet feathers: Every piece was a treat.

For the first time in his three-year tenure, another relative couture newcomer, Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, seemed to have hit his stride. Construction was as elaborate as ever: An evening skirt was embroidered with ostrich, goose and cockerel feathers in shades of blush to pale pistachio; a white poplin shirt had layered cuffs that seemed to reveal a bottom layer of white glass beads. But in this season's "gothic ballerina" theme the technical skill acquired a new grace.

The final outfit, a sunray-pleated tulle trench, seemed to glide along the catwalk like a prima ballerina in Swan Lake. Elie Saab, meanwhile, was pure Barbie bling, with silvery frocks that looked like a disco ball reflected in a diamond.

Chanel's underwater creatures had a softness to them that showed the feminine side of the label: Even the famous Chanel jacket, a giant version of which dominated the catwalk, is in fact much adored by its lucky wearers for being as easy to shrug on as a cardigan despite its chic straight lines.

My two final highlights of the week were very different. At Vivier's shoe showroom, designer Bruno Frisoni showed his couture collection up close and personal: For a shoe-lover, this was utter heaven. Vivier is best known for classic silver-buckled flats, and Frisoni has made a couture version of this in the Royale, high-heeled and crowned with a vermeil buckle encrusted with rock crystals.

The Guardian

(China Daily 01/29/2008 page19)