If there was one clear style message to emerge for autumn, it is that big skirts are back. Designers in Paris are tackling the 1980s references that were so strong in Milan, with a new silhouette - soft wide skirts. This was confirmed yesterday at Chanel - the house at the heart of that decade - when Karl Lagerfeld tinkered with suit proportions by producing big skirts reminiscent of Dior's 1940s New Look. These bountiful shapes turned up on the catwalk again yesterday in tweed, denim, fine checks and even grey fur, worked into Chanel's signature chocolate-bar quilting - reflecting the grid pattern of the backdrop for the show. Quilting - remember the handbags - has become a feature of the tailoring, worked in panels down sleeves and fronts of jackets, or enlarged and bulked out into big grey or white ski-jackets. The best ideas to come from the show were the slender vintage denim coats and big smocked skirts, gussied up with fur hems and gold trimming.
Shows last night by Vivienne Westwood and American Jeremy Scott rounded up the Paris autumn collections and a month of shows that began in New York. The Paris catwalk has endorsed the increasingly repetitive trends for luxurious, lady-like fashion that first appeared in New York and Milan. However, Paris treated it with a sense of irony. Milan was very literal in its interpretation of the 1980s, and in many respects hasn't moved the look on to make it more relevant to the woman of today. Paris, however, was not indulgent of such ostentation and gave the look spontaneity and a little attitude. While some flirted with classic looks from the decade, Givenchy, Comme des Garcons and, surprisingly, Ungaro, were united in observing the social undercurrents of punk power. Each expressed it in a different way, but most striking were Commes des Garcons' perforated black leather coats buckled across the chest.
In total contrast was the playfulness of collections from Junya Watanabe, Issey Miyake and John Galliano, who infused their ideas with a child-like charm. Watanabe conjured up magical concertina-cut paper lantern jackets that unfurled like blossoming flowers over almost translucent, floral chintz dresses. Miyake's collection opened with a parade of puffy balloon shapes, an idea that developed into sweet, childish pyjama outfits in striped jersey with inflated water-wings ballooning on the sleeves.
Galliano's novel approach was to produce a carnival of animals, supported by mothers' clothes borrowed from the dressing-up box. It was an enchanting sight and the complete antithesis of those polished grown-up looks that have so dominated the collections this season.