As Paris fashion week ends today, Alexander McQueen's collection "Sarabande" held in the Cirque d'Hiver was an undeniable highlight of the season, writes Deirdre McQuillan, Fashion Editor in Paris
Staged in the round under a huge chandelier with live musical accompaniment, the show, as the title suggested, was something of a wild theatrical dance that combined historical reference with jet-set tailoring.
Extravagant fantasy alternated with daytime sobriety, a typically McQueen approach. It showed in an Edwardian floor-length skirt with small shapely jacket and ruffled jabot that followed a chic grey trouser suit whose crossover jacket tied gently at the back. What united both was gracefulness, a feature of the entire collection. Accessories and styling drove home the point: there was millinery in the shape of gigantic bouquets along with Chaplinesque bowler hats and hair piled up in deliberate disarray.
Dresses, a strong trend for next spring, came padded on the hips for extra curviness, the antithesis of boyish black suits with skintight pants or rakish tuxedos. You could only marvel at the technical skill: one funereal black suit had a hood attached to the sleeves while a high-necked Victorian gown of flesh-coloured net was encrusted with sequins. Like the rest of the audience, Brown Thomas buyers were ecstatic.
At Hermès, models descended from a gangplank as if from a cruise ship, opening the collection in brown bathing suits with padlock belts and gold espadrilles, so dangerously high as to down one of the girls. Autumnal colours like brown, terracotta and mushroom steered the collection of shiny satin shorts, long silk chiffons and leather waistcoats in less sunny, lacklustre directions. Accessories included a lot of chains and silver jewellery.
One exciting talent is Martin Grant, an Australian designer with a couture bent and a growing fan base in Ireland where his clothes are stocked by Harvey Nichols. His was a quiet, controlled collection with details that made things special like a black standaway coat with a neck of high ruffles or a little grey dress with drop-waist and puff sleeves in men's shirting. Grant knows how to make an impact: a glistening red patent mac was as high voltage as the floor-length red evening dresses with plunging backline.
At Vuitton, Marc Jacobs was having a Marie Antoinette moment, perhaps anticipating the forthcoming movie by Sophia Coppola. There were flounces, box-pleats, drapes, swags, milkmaid frocks of l8th century sweetness rendered in soft sorbet colours with jackets that flared out over full skirts and corseted suits with peek-a-boo flounces. For Chez Galliano the mood was more rock 'n' roll, skinny white trouser suits and dresses shining with gold leaf, but oversize corsages and gigantic headdresses inspired by the sculpture of Alexander Calder failed to lift what was otherwise a disappointing collection.