>Project Blog
By Alex Fury, 12:51 Thu 12 Mar 2009
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Roland Mouret's venue, the Musee de l'Homme, was frankly perfectly-placed for me to snap this endearingly picture-postcard shot of la Tour Eiffel before hot-footing it back to blighty on the Eurostar. Our Paris fashion week project has now been updated with my final report from Mouret's presentation, so the only thing to do now is bid au revoir to our Paris soujourn and make a welcome return to London!
By Alex Fury, 12:49 Thu 12 Mar 2009
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Designer Peter Dundas has been quietly beavering away at the establishment heart of Paris for over three seasons as design head of Revillion furs. Taking their presentations back to rather marvellous basics (a theme of the week if ever there was one), Revillion showed in the grand old sense, taking over a hotel particular in close to the Paris Opera for a series of tiny, single-room presentations. What better way, after all, to see such intricately, painstakingly worked pieces? Before the show, Dundas explained that the theme was, quite simply, Hip Hop. But this was haute hip hop, crafted with Revillion's unrivalled knowledge and expertise. What may have seemed overblown in a large presentation was afforded the true luxury of time and close examination by the twenty or so spectators crammed into every presentation: strips of fur were intricately knitted to give pieces a weightlessness, while more substantial coats were patchworked in big-cat or fatigue patterns in khakis or rococo shades of lilac, oyster and rose-beige. These jackets had a clever trick, going from hip-length to waist-length chubby with the flick of a zipped peplum. Dundas himself welcomed the change in pace, especially after his ball-busting debut for Emilio Pucci earlier this year. 'You can speak to the editors and really explain what you wanted to achieve' he said as he sat with audience members pre-show to talk about the clothes we were about to see (sometimes, the debunking of fashion's cloak and dagger secrecy is a welcome change!). But with a clear, concise and conveniently-timed message like Dundas', little explanation is really needed.
By Alex Fury, 20:38 Wed 11 Mar 2009
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Maybe Galliano has spent his set budget on the special effects? His Russian Ark of Romany gypsies are parading out in a purple halo of billowing snow. I mean, I know the venue is a bit chilly but this is ridiculous!
By Alex Fury, 19:44 Wed 11 Mar 2009
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We're finally in and the venue is... low-key, to say the least. Four rows of wooden seating, bare warehouse walls and only a black cloth for a catwalk. We can only wonder what's in store.
By Alex Fury, 19:27 Wed 11 Mar 2009
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We're clustered in close-to-zero temperatures outside Galliano's venue, but things are still heating up. Maybe it's the breakneck schedule, or the fact the show should have started ten minutes ago, but the photographers are kicking up a storm outside.
By Alex Fury, 18:39 Wed 11 Mar 2009
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I'm on my way to the penultimate show of our Paris fashion week, John Galliano, whose invite this season is a dinner-plate sized metallic silver disc etched with vaguely Oriental designs like a fretworked Moorish screen (or a rather exotic paper doily). Frankly fabulous, but a rather inconvenient ojet d'art to lug around half-a-dozen arrondisements a day...
By Alex Fury, 22:15 Tue 10 Mar 2009
Chris Moore and my good self have been working our fingers to the bone since the Alexander McQueen show ended not two hours ago, and our Paris fashion week project has now been updated with a full gallery of Chris' fabulous photographs and my review (and lo-fi real-time video) of this truly spectacular show.
By Alex Fury, 19:05 Tue 10 Mar 2009
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...quite literally! Alexander McQueen's collection, titled 'The Horn of Plenty', will parade around this towering mound of steaming rubbish - all of it lovingly, and no doubt hygienically, recreated by the McQueen team.
By Alex Fury, 16:26 Tue 10 Mar 2009
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It's always wonderful when seeing the clothes up close and personal surpasses the spectacle of the catwalk, and Stefano Pilati's wonderful, wearable new YSL collection was even better in flesh. Flesh, of course, was a big story - those opening leather looks, reminiscent of the blouson noir of Monsieur Saint Laurent's 1960 'Beat' collection, made a powerful statement even off the catwalk. Interestingly, the raised detail on some of those leather pockets and across the topstitched seams of that basic little black leather bodysuit were created by an insertion of chain, a motif picked up by leather-swathed chain necklaces and bracelets. The suits were stunning, crafted from basic grey flannel with minimal but surgically precise seaming and a rigorous attention to detail. That Saint Laurent shoulder I espoused last night? All cut, no padding, so everything felt and looked as slight, light and delicate as possible. The whole collection seemed sturdy, starchy but ultimately weightless - apart from those hefty brieze-block wedges that could easily double as offensive weaponry and kept everything resolutely down-to-earth.
By Alex Fury, 16:09 Tue 10 Mar 2009
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X really does mark the spot at Jean Paul Gaultier, and after Saturday's X-rated, XXX 'xtravaganza of an 'xhibition (yes, I am aware that is at least one witless pun too many) I was interested how the clothes looked close-up and personal. The quality was, of course, impeccable - bands of organza and velvet seemed to be worked seamlessly into tight little crepe dresses, while the angular shoulders of Gaultier's signature tailored jackets were created by a band of material running up the back of the arm, folding over at the sleeve-head and tucking neatly into the armhole like origami. The nicest details of all, I thought, were the slits in narrow velvet and wool skirts, adjusted by means of concealed zips to reveal as little (or as much) as the wearer desired. X's were worked into everything, from darting insertions across the hearts of strict closed-neck day dresses, to transfer prints on jacket linings, to the triple-X superimposition of crossed belt-buckle, hatched applique and X-shaped folding on a taffeta dance frock. My favourite piece, however, was slightly less low-key: the ultimate heavy-metal biker jacket rendered in black chain-mail, edged in silver loops and studded with seriously tough-duty silver spikes. Perfect for the couture punk in us all.
By Alex Fury, 11:23 Tue 10 Mar 2009
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Jean-Charles de Castelbajac's invitations are always a colour-crammed poster-sized summary of his Technicolor aesthetic. This one is splashed with Muppets and slightly Frenchified fifties do-wop lyrics. I'm apprehensive, to say the least, as to the level of good taste and restraint we're about to see. But it's all in the name of fun, something we're surely in need of.
By Alex Fury, 22:33 Mon 09 Mar 2009
Here's my own wee homage to Stefano Pilati's tour de force showing for Yves Saint Laurent this evening: a truly wonderful way to finish today's coverage of the Paris shows. What's more, lucky me has a re-see rendezvous with that self-same collection booked for tomorrow morning!
By Alex Fury, 15:45 Mon 09 Mar 2009
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We've seen drapery all over the place this season, but maybe Viktor and Rolf are about to push it to the nth degree (dangerous preemption!) Suspiciously untarnished white classical statuary set a Greco-Roman mood at the head of their Autumn/Winter 2009 runway.
By Alex Fury, 09:39 Mon 09 Mar 2009
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Im never really sure what Stella McCartney's childish invites are meant to signify - other than a return to innocence and a lighthearted, frivolous joke that shouldn't have too much read into it. In itself, that's refreshing enough for fashion. This season, with her plastic yo-yo clutched firmly in hand, I'm on my way to her early early show now, but this time it's me that's running seriously late!
By Alex Fury, 00:13 Mon 09 Mar 2009
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Frank Sinatra may love Paris even when it drizzles, but I can't help but wonder if he's been here when it pours - and with only a newspaper for cover. I was rather homesick at the truly Anglais downpour that slightly hampered my Paris jaunt today (five days in Paris without the home comforts of le Boots or le M&S Simply Food does that to a boy) thus the lack of my usual on-the-go jog-n-blog updates. Nevertheless all our shows today have now been fully updated in the ever-expanding SHOWstudio Paris Fashion Week project. More tomorrow.
By Alex Fury, 09:43 Sun 08 Mar 2009
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Kaiser Karl is always at least two steps ahead of the game. While other designers are running-up last minute inspirational alterations to their final catwalk looks, Lagerfeld is so far in advance of even his up-to-the-next-minute self he's already shot his Autumn/Winter 2009 campaign images. Not only that, he furnishes us with a clutch of them in a neat neutral portfolio to preempt his show mere minutes away. He's probably already off designing next winter as we speak.
By Alex Fury, 23:31 Sat 07 Mar 2009
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Having fully updated all the day's antics in our Paris Fashion Week project, I leave you with one of my favourite images from this frantic and frenetic fourth day: Jean-Paul Gaultier's dirt-splattered catwalk following his screaming, hair-pulling mud-wrestling catfight finale to the tune of 'Relax'. You couldn't make it up, really.
By Alex Fury, 18:23 Sat 07 Mar 2009
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Jean-Paul Gaultier's distinctly pro-pelt stance has never been shy or retiring: maybe that's why he gets the full force of PETA each end every season. The audience, meanwhile are herded like cattle into the venue by the most brusque of security cadres.
By Alex Fury, 13:01 Sat 07 Mar 2009
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This bright, white illuminated sculpture marks the head of Sophia's catwalk. portents of frocks to come? Only she knows...
By Alex Fury, 11:44 Sat 07 Mar 2009
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For those of you bemoaning the absence of me in our signature SHOWstudio video blogs this Paris Fashion Week I can only apologise but at the moment I am decidedly under the weather. Fret not, help is at hand (literally) in the form of Ann Demeulemeester's printed linen handkerchief invite. I just hope I don't need to blow my nose before her show at 16:30. As our Twitter followers will already know, the day's shows have kicked off already and our first review, of the Haider Ackermann collection, is online now. More to come later this afternoon.
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