Last night, in the National Theatre of Chaillot, Stefano Pilati presented his second collection for YSL Rive Gauche, bringing to an end the last of the major autumn-winter catwalk shows in Paris.
After a promising debut last season, Pilati attempted to define a new sobriety in dress, drawing references from religious iconography alongside revaluations of St Laurent classics, but it was not entirely effective. A dress with a heart shape cut out of the bodice and heels in the shape of candles were light touches, but the collection was weighed down with complicated flourishes. Flared peplum waists and skirts shaped like chefs' toques make strong shapes, but not for modern metropolitans. What was successful were simple knits, ethereal white chiffon dresses and pleated suits with delicate white ruffles, restrained wear for today's vestal virgins.
At Hermes, Jean-Paul Gaultier has settled into a happy marriage with the venerable French house, harnessing its illustrious leather and silk-making skills into thoroughbred collections of great style. For winter, the fluency showed in black sheepskins with broad lapels, or in supple, cigar-leather skirts with pleated silk inserts.
Giving new vigour to traditional shapes like a duffel coat in Donegal tweed or a new woolly take on the iconic Kelly, his touch was firm and sure. A scaled-down silver Birkin worn like a necklace demonstrated a cheekier side. "Jean-Paul is a very good match for Hermes," U2's Adam Clayton, a Hermes fan, told The Irish Times afterwards. "He has taken its traditions and given them a twist with broad appeal to a cross-section of buyers."
The Chloe show, minus its designer Phoebe Philo, who is on maternity leave, featured typical girlish numbers such as a nostalgic lace frock sweetly tied with black velvet and a simple trio of waistcoat, lace tunic and swing skirt. But if proportions like enormous bell sleeves and heavy black knits occasionally seemed off-kilter, a black and white polka-dot coat worn with red suede boots was spot on.
Outstanding shows on Saturday were those of Comme des Garcons, held in the old chapel of the Beaux Arts, and Alexander McQueen's collection, put on show in an old industrial school.
In a week which was fast and frenetic, the Comme collection was a refreshing, stately parade of neo-Victorian-style wedding and mourning grandeur: gowns of detailed lace, silk and chiffon with deconstructed jackets, all accessorised with spectacular head-dresses trailing veils of antique lace. Familiar wedding fanfares jarred with modern rock, a telling statement in itself of Rei Kawakubo's idiosyncratic approach.
McQueen's show, a tour-de-force of colour and shape, was sharp and sexy, catching the kittenish mood of the Elvis years.