For the first time in four years, the SHOWstudio Picture Phone journeyed to Paris Haute Couture Week, to document the unconstrained aesthetic ambition, extraordinary luxury and fastidious workmanship of the most exclusive end of the fashion industry. Sent directly from the opulent venues, taxis en route to the shows and after les defilés, Penny Martin captured the magic of the most outrageously imaginative and decadent of fashion weeks.
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Having seen Naomi Campbell model the dress from the finalé of the Chanel Couture show last week, we thought you might like to see the rest of the collection. Given our ticket shortage, we couldn't pass up Benjamin Seroussi's kind offer of a quick edit of the 'guerilla footage' he managed to capture when the security guards weren't looking...
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Travelling back on the Eurostar and leafing through the new Paris Vogue, just spotted the latest fashion photographer to 'do a Juergen/Terry' and publish a nude self-portrait. The question is: who will be next after Mario?!
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They started with quite an 80s silhouette, with pronounced Montana-like shoulders, but this softened as the -brief at 10 minutes- show went on, into this more curvaceous, almost Edwardian outline.
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Showing in the very chic Romanian embassy, Boudicca unveiled a very sharp and precise collection of trouser-suits and lace evening dresses. The fit was impeccable but in truth, it was hard to see the fabrics as it was very, very dark.
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Listen to Patrick Scallon take us through the February Men's Travel Jacket.
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The fabric is threaded through the beads to mould the shawl to the body.
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Closest to us, you see the brilliant 'Oil Painting Dress', for which the house has washed three oil paintings to strip the canvas of its gesso, softened them and then pieced them together in this shift, carefully folding them to create a waist. Get a message to Cate: THIS is what she should wear!
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Here you are seeing the scene after the Margiela presentation, where a photographer is shooting the models behind apertures in a curved hall of mirrors. In a kind of museological tour, a cropped section of a model's body emerged from the darkness to reveal one of 24 garments in turn; a men's and a woman's to represent a different month of the year. Meanwhile, a voiceover explained the origins and construction of each piece -in the foreground you see a trench made from 40 shopping bags- in three different languages. A brilliant idea that took me back to my museum days!
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Risking life and limb for SHOWstudio apparently, Benjamin took a video camera into the Chanel show on Tuesday. He popped by the hotel bar last night to show me the results of his quick little edit.
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This was Giorgio Armani's biggest collection at close to 70 'exits'. There was glitzy sparkle and lustrous fabrics galore, but most of all, it seemed, there were these spiral dresses with asymmetrical hemlines.
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From left: ex Bondgirl Rosamund Pike, Cate Blanchet -who was flown in on the Armani jet especially- the Armani niece, whose name is possibly Natalia (?) and of course, friend of Giorgio, Katie. All wearing Armani Prive, naturally.
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The ecclesiastical music switched for the walk-through to -you guessed it- Madonna! Present only in spirit, however. Never mind: Posh Spice was there instead, no doubt hoping to mop up some of her reflected glory. I nearly photographed her for you, but I'm afraid the tats put me off and I just couldn't go through with it .
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This white lace dress came with an attached lace gimp mask: someone should tell Cantankerous! Such a great fit without being stretchy: brilliant.
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These amazing halos -each girl wore one (as seen with this 'bleeding heart dress') fashioned from metal, perspex, feathers and all manner of stuff- are going to be shot to pieces in the coming reason. I mean, who wouldn't look better for a little ray of light around the hairline? Now, which supermodel do we most see one on? How about Naomi...
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There were so many angels floating around that as the dresses became more complex, I kept thinking we were witnessing the bride, who is traditionally the final 'exit' in a Couture show. At around 65k each, wedding dresses are key to keeping the industry afloat as they comprise a good proportion of Couture sales.
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Once the model wearing this solid gold number descended the staircase onto the runway, she slid open the 'doors' of her mask to reveal her face.
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Of course, the classic Gaultier trick is the visual pun: trompe L'Oeil, the trouser-dress or some such cheeky gag. In this afternoon's show, any jokes were played out in the staging, rather than the clothes themselves, which were as elegant and demure as the angels on which the collection's theme was based. This modest suit, for instance, was revved up in the sexy stakes by its model, Dita von Teese, whose appearance in a show about virgin Madonnas was a shrewd move, given her pending divorce to Marilyn Manson.
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On arrival, each guest is given a slip with a district of Paris printed on it in exchange for their invite. This is a clever rouse: nobody knows how good their seats are before they get in and so can't make a fuss at the door (London PR Mandi Lennard runs a system like this, only with coloured stickers). I have a hunch I know where the back row is- La Salette: that's what it says on my slip!
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Confirming his status as a designer conscious of spectacle above all else, Tisci had his model convene in a tableau behind glass (a little reminiscent of McQueen's 'Voss' come to think of it), which -with the streaming condensation on the inside of the glass and the models' languid poses- had more than a touch of Deborah Turbeville's bath scenes about it.
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After an initial section of tailoring- that looked a lot like Ready-to-Wear-
but then, I was a few rows from being able to see any perceptible detail, all Riccardo Tisci's attention turned to trains...
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Lacroix does two sittings and my ticket was for the latter so I wasn't sure what to make of my friends text to 'expect a nu rave show'. At Lacroix? Really?! The palette was pretty fluro, yes, and there was a smattering of techno crystal, as seen in this waspie waister, but it wasn't awash with teen spirit, I wouldn't have said.
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Oh, the romance! I'd been told to expect a carnation on my seat when I got here. Apparently, they are to throw at Christian Lacroix at the end of the show. The programme notes say this -40th- collection is about 'scent of a woman'. That's the one where Al Pacino shouts a lot, right?
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Amid a cherry blossom-like storm of tiny tissue butterflies, the models did their walk-through, before Galliano did his lap of honour, dressed as Mad King Ludwig II. You may remember him from Bjork's In Camera interview, in response to Michael Jackson's question. (Goodness me, how peculiar is my job?!) ANYWAY, how do I know which precise swashbuckling German eccentric he came as? Because my contacts tell me he enlisted Thomas Lenthal at Numero to have the costume made!
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'Tradition and refinement versus savagery' he said: samurai warriors, crysanthemums and flower arranging and contemporary art were the central themes of the (legendary) research books.
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Of course, judging by the get-up of most of the c60-year-old clients sitting on the lacquered, black seats in the audience, it won't be garments like this delightful, poufy sack dress with rope motifs that will be the big sellers in the coming weeks. But such items demonstrate that Galliano is capable of greater modernity and subtlety than has been found in his most recent Couture collections.
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John (we're on first name terms since my visit last week...) described getting the diagonal graduation on the hand dying for this dress as like 'mathematics' when he showed me the research books from his preparatory research trip to Japan.
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This film illustrates -in microcosm- what was clever about Galliano's ripping show this afternoon. Based on Madame Butterfly, each garment was a fusion of traditional Japanese dress -representing Cio-Cio San- and classical 50s Couture -standing for Major Pinkerton, without a full-blown kimono or tailored skirt suit in sight. There were aspects not to like- the heavy black leather, the ungainly Gaiter shoes and the patchy music- but I only mention them because the rest was so damn great. I've never had such a fine seat at Dior so expect a few pics-it's amazing what a good seat does for their quality!
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It's quite a trek out here to the Dior venue in the Bois de Boulogne: a far cry from the central setting of the Tuilleries for the Ready-to-Wear.
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One thing you can say about Couture: the demographic and attire of the audience is certainly different from Ready-to-Wear!
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