Paris, Oct 13: A glittering extravaganza from Yves Saint Laurent brought Paris fashion week to its climax on Sunday, setting 1920s silhouettes to a 1970s beat as models with huge disco hair strutted down a zebra-skin catwalk. American designer Tom Ford, continuing his raunchy makeover of the Gucci-owned label, sexed up loose satin trouser suits by pulling them tight around the hips and dolled up evening gowns with tiny balls on shoulder straps like dewdrops on spider webs.

Dressed to kill, and for the kind of party that has glace cherries in the cocktails and sausages on sticks, models with mists of backcombed curls swung their hips in black-and-white suits with wide lapels and swirling off-the-shoulder frocks.
"I thought it was sophisticated and sensual. Seductive too," French Vogue Editor Carine Roitfeld, a Ford muse told a news agency. "The trouser suits would be very easy to wear even if you don't have a perfect body. Lots of women would like them."

Ford's was the last major show of the season, but he had tough competition from Louis Vuitton and Lanvin earlier in the day, not to mention Valentino and Stella McCartney in the morning.
American Marc Jacobs opened his show by beaming clusters of Louis Vuitton monograms around with spotlights.

Mixing vintage gear, velvet and Cleopatra-style gold lame with pleated silk skirts, tasselled shorts and pretty satin blouses, Jacobs' trick was to match each eclectic outfit with its own cutsey Vuitton bag and a to-die-for pair of shoes.

To the delight of guests, a model wearing little more than an embroidered bra still had a spangly purse to match.

"Last season was very architectural and sturdy," said Jacobs, whose new show marks a turnaround from his prim, space-age former style. "This time we wanted it younger and saucier, so we mixed everything together -- anything we wanted, we just didn't care."


Bureau Report