Fashion Week
S/S 2012

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Day 1

Dries Van Noten Rochas

Day 2

Balmain Rick Owens Nina Ricci

Day 3

Roland Mouret Christian Dior Maison Martin Margiela Lanvin

Day 4

Junya Watanabe Haider Ackermann Viktor & Rolf Comme des Garçons Kanye West

Day 5

Akris Céline Hermès Kenzo Givenchy

Day 6

Stella McCartney Chloé Yves Saint Laurent

Day 7

Chanel Valentino Paco Rabanne Moncler Gamme Rouge Alexander McQueen

Day 8

Louis Vuitton Miu Miu

Dries Van Noten

Print and décor are essential elements of the Dries Van Noten DNA. One collection can feature anything from 10 to 100 different prints. This season he used a random edit of stock photography of cityscapes and jungles, botanical sketches and a series of nightscapes shot in London, Beirut, Los Angeles and Las Vegas by the young London-born Marseille-based photographer James Reeve. Van Noten chops up these prints and patterns, takes them out of context and uses one image on the yoke, something else on the sleeves, front and back of a garment. By mixing the scale and colour (in this case plenty of monochrome) he constructs his own language of decoration. Spain provided reference for monochromatic toreador embroideries while shapes like swinging backs, ruffles, nipped-in waists and padded hips referenced 1950s couture. Often, however, this was executed in cotton - like the white gabardine swing back biker jacket - so it all felt new

Dries van Noten

Rochas

The polished and groomed-to-perfection looks seen on the Rochas runway, with their organza headscarves, cats-eye sunglasses and miniature handbags, were glamour the Rochas way, according to designer Marco Zanini. His starting point was what he called a 'vortex' of cinematic memories, from kitchen sink dramas and sci-fi to the work of directors as varied as Tim Burton, John Waters and Alfred Hitchcock. With all those glamorous gals of the screen mixed together, what transpired was more of an essence than anything specific. Colours were pale and pastel; fabrics included razored or destroyed satin, layers of silk organza in a coat and dress combo or pleated one way and then the other to create a 3D check, and Lurex yarn knitted with wool into new 'twinsets' - in this case slouchy sweaters over pencil skirts

Rochas

Balmain

Balmain - the ultra hip French brand rescued from obscurity by designer Christophe Decarnin (with more than a little help from Emmanuelle Alt of French Vogue) - is now in the capable hands of Decarnin's deputy, the 26-year-old Olivier Rousteing. The brand is known for thigh-skimming skirts, embellished and strong-shouldered jackets, drainpipe jeans and €1000 T-shirts. And for now at least, under Rousteing's stewardship, it seems it's business as usual - that is, no major change of direction, which will certainly keep the clients happy. Having said that, the collection had a slightly less grungy, rock 'n' roll feel - more of a French polish and a Las Vegas theme. In fact it felt even more expensive, if that is actually posssible - given that Balmain prices are already legendary. Of the few pieces in the show not weighed down with heavy golden baroque embroidery, it was the chambray shirts with teeny gold studs on one shoulder or on yokes that really stood out

Balmain

Rick Owens
This was a show of tailoring, the Rick Owens way. Jackets and tunic tops were paired with long wrap skirts that twisted their way around the legs, all fastenings and any hardware completely hidden from view, in colours like chalk, terracotta and clay - almost always monochrome to let shape and structure speak. Cape and bell shapes, closely cut shoulders, cocooning backs and arm holes as low as elbows all had their roots somewhere in 1950s couture, a big theme in Paris, but in the hands of Owen - and executed in matt monochromatic fabrics and leather crushed like wastepaper - they were far removed from their origins. Similarly, the mesh inserts and parkas with drawstrings pulled tightly below the bust referenced sportswear but didn't look in any way sporty. Instead it was really quite elegant, save for the chunky boots that twist things towards the cool the brand is known for. The show ended with a terrific series of tunics and jackets in a kind of mosaic fashioned in leather

Rick Owens

Nina Ricci

With little more than two years at the creative helm of Nina Ricci and only five shows behind him, Peter Copping has firmly established the Ricci brand as the go-to place for seductive, highly feminine and very French dressing. His success, both critically and at retail, is down to his skill and focus in modernising that look and giving it exactly the right attitude. Thus richly textured and classically feminine fabrics like stretch satin, lace, cloché silk, tulle, lamé and grossgrain ribbon, as well as flounces, bows, gathers and pleats, get turned on their head and sometimes inside out, taking out just enough of the sweetness to make them feel new and current. Whether they appeared in leather or cotton-knit, jackets and coats here and there had a biker feel. Jacquards were over-printed, then laser-cut and pieced back together with the edges left raw and sometimes over embroidered. High-waisted pencil skirts - a house staple - were cut in laundered cotton drill, while ruched silk was patchworked together, messing things up a little. All this, a tone-on-tone colour palate with plenty of navy and midnight blue as well as blush-like shades (key for Spring) and an attention to detail, takes the sweetness to a palatable point and no further. He also successfully reworked floral prints of irises, pansies, carnations, bluebells and daisies by Zina de Plagny, a Russian Artist who collaborated with Nina Ricci in the 1930s and 1940s

Nina Ricci

Roland Mouret

Now that Roland Mouret has his own store and atelier in London's Mayfair he has more contact with his clients and their needs. Imagining a 'tourist and plastic free' French village - and the kind of pretty clothes needed for shopping for provisions and a Sunday night dance - may be more Manon des Sources than reality for his loyal customers, who sometimes buy mutiples of the same looks for different homes. Silk and wool crepe dresses cut in summer colours had fitted waists, bell-shaped skirts, pronounced busts and emphasised shoulders thanks to folding and darting cloth. In addition to the construction details he is known for, Mouret used black knitted bands, grossgrain and lace tape to create additional hems, enhance shoulders further and fashion bandeau style lingerie worn underneath. The same tape was appliqued in evil eye patterns. Those, plus naïve leather shapes applied on skirts, came as Mouret sketched, imagining the women in the lives of Picasso, Cocteau and the like

Roland Mouret

Christian Dior

If there were any remains of John Galliano wafting around the Christian Dior studio, the latest fashion show put on by his former studio assistant Bill Gaytten proves that all traces have now, finally, been completely erased. Gaytten is in a tough position: he's working a top dog slot he never asked for, ostensibly biding his time until another, much more famous designer (with the initials MJ) confirms whether he will be coming to Dior. Is it any surprise then that Gaytten delivered a collection that looked as if it could (and should) be delivered directly from runway to the sales floor? With not a single runway antic to be found, the collection was awash with lady like silhouettes - perfect knee-length dresses, egg-shaped skirts, 3/4-sleeve jackets, trapeze coats and tiny belts which circled the waist in the most demure of ways. The sauciest thing on the runway were the high-heeled sandals with zipper trim - and not even these sizzled much. But this is all fine: someone at some point in the fashion creative process has got to make the clothes that sell. Perhaps this was Gaytten's way of auditioning as a very able number two to whatever big number one designer the top brass at LVMH decides upon

Christian Dior

Maison Martin Margiela

The regular to-do list of model duties - walking straight, striking a pose, and turning without falling - very rarely includes the holding up of one's dress. At trick-happy Maison Martin Margiela, however, the first model out had the added responsibility of keeping her dress on - not only was she clutching frantically at the unfinished edges of the top half, but her hair was wrapped so completely around her face, it is a miracle she actually made it out the back door without falling on her head. The design team at Margiela loves presenting fashion quandaries and, model torture aside, this show had plenty of them. Long sinuous skirts split up both legs were made from leather on the front and thick wool on the back. Canvas was bonded with tulle with a homespun touch, while capes trailed the floor in a Darth Vader sort of way. The best part of the collection, though, was the fashion meets furniture moment when ornately sequined skirts tops and dresses came floating out in exact replica to the runway's Persian rug pattern underfoot

Maison Martin Margiela

Lanvin

Is it possible that someone gave Alber Elbaz a mean pill in the six months since his last fashion show? The perennially happy, jolly designer sent out his most menacing collection to date, where models looked a lot like the sort of tough girls who could beat you up. It wasn't just the hardcore jewellery (that had a hint of Hells Angels in its winged eagle iconography mixed with oversized crucifixes), the snake print that appeared in full slithering beast form (rather than just the graphic skin) or the heavy metal music blaring on the sound system. The whole collection just looked... harder. A lot of that had to do with Albaz's fabrics which were compact techno materials that almost had a scuba feel to them. Even the silky numbers - chic shirt dresses, black in the front and taupe in the back - looked serious. Coupled with the brand new Lanvin shoulder, hugely molded with a long loop that looked like something out of Battlestar Galactica, the whole show had more weight to it. And we mean that both literally and figuratively

Lanvin

Junya Watanabe

Headgear is shaping up to be quite a trend for Spring/Summer 2012, but no one has created anything more beautiful than Junya Watanabe's remarkable feathered hats. Incorporating a dramatic mix of long plumes in different colours and shapes, the headpieces were grand and sculptural, more like a feathered floral arrangement than your average hat. Their ceremonial quality was cut with the sweetness of floral lace dresses that fell softly from the models' shoulders. It wouldn't be a Junya show if there weren't any fashion-hybrid action. That segment fell towards the end, when classic trench coats married ball-gown sleeves or dramatic capes

Junya Watanabe

Haider Ackermann

The ability to manipulate stiff fabrics to give them a sense of softness and fluidity is just one of the many talents lurking in the mysterious head of Colombian designer Haider Ackermann. The designer's use of silk taffeta created magical volumes in puff-air pants, yet the fabric was supple enough to withstand the sleeve-scrunching and waist-bounding that are his signatures. This season's collection had a Middle Eastern flair to it, with flat shoes whose heels were stomped down, a harem shape to trousers and plenty of silk veils that blended beautifully into flowing robes and dresses. Ackermann has proven himself to be a marvellous colourist, and his continued fascination with jewel tones yielded some exceptional results

Haider Ackermann

Viktor & Rolf

High fashion is normally not a playground for big girls, so the sight of two Amazonian women towering over the Viktor & Rolf runway in Paris was a delightfully refreshing sight. At more than five metres high, the girls - a charming chanteuse duo called Brigitte - were stationed atop a pair of giant cascading chiffon skirts at the runway entrance, giving the impression of two singers wearing gowns the height of skyscrapers. The models made their entrance through strategic slits in the skirts, thus launching a costume-y show with fairy-tale flavour. Overstitched tulle was magnified by a scale of about a million, and became the unifying decorative theme on both the sensible (cropped jackets and A-line skirts) and the proposterous (tiered wedding-cake gowns and rufflemania dresses)

Viktor & Rolf

Comme des Garçons

Every once in a while Rei Kawakubo - fashion's highest intellectual and its fiercest proponent of the avant garde - does a collection of rare, pure beauty. That is what occurred when she presented an all-white wedding-gown show for Spring/Summer. Of course neither these gowns, nor the enormous whipped cream-like headpieces they were shown with, are destined for the pages of Brides or Town & Country magazine. They should, however, be considered for a contemporary art gallery. The workmanship was exceptional, like clusters of white cabbage roses that started on the shoulders and soon overtook the models entirely like a sort of flower igloo. Kawakubo worked in traditional wedding fabrics - heavy duchesse satin, intricate lace - but subverted the classicism with unusual silhouettes, like arms that resembled cuffed trousers, padded crinolines worn outside dresses, exaggerated bustles, voluminous skirts and engorged cloak dresses. Most blasphemous of all? Kawakubo's defacement of pristine white satin with graffiti tags that looked as though they'd been applied with a triumphant whizz of spray paint

Comme des Garçons

Kanye West

Kanye West is one brave man. Performing in front of thousands is, presumably, something he is quite used to now, but unveiling his new project, an eponymous fashion line, to a much smaller but, lets say, more opinionated crowd requires a very different kind of nerve. West showed to a fashion-industry elite that included American Vogue's Anna Wintour, the Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes and Virginie Mouzat of Le Figaro, plus the designers West most admires (fashion god Azzedine Alaïa, Silvia Fendi, Alexander Wang, Jeremy Scott, Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2) and a smattering of VIPs like Peter Marino, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Marc Newson and Terry Richardson. To stand up in front of this crowd as a writer-cum-producer-cum-performer and now call yourself a designer is in itself something, but it's a testament to West's talent and the respect he warrants that everyone turned up last night, when they would have normally been dining (the show slot was 9.30pm). West has, of course, done his homework. He's attended more front-row shows than many fashion followers. He's hired all the right people (a top PR agency, lighting-designer, set-builder and producer, and his shoes were designed by none other than Giuseppe Zanotti). This guy knows his Celine from his Givenchy and his Balmain from his Balenciaga, but will such a highly critical clique let him in? And what did they think of the bonded, pleated, zippered, beaded, flesh-revealing offerings presented to them? Or the fox fur for summer option? We would say 100 percent for effort and 100 percent for balls

Kanye West

Akris

John Frankenheimer's 1966 film Grand Prix inspired the sleek and sporty looks at Akris's Spring collection. Some prints were obviously referential, like illustrated cars zooming on silk crepe, or head-to-toe stripes meant to reference racing stripes or quite possibly skid marks on a silk-crepe jacket with matching trousers. As always, creative director Albert Kriemler kept his cutting clean and his silhouettes pared down. A nice colour story played out on Akris's fine fabrics, including apple-green silk shantung, yellow and beige blocking in silk crepe and bright, techno organza

Akris

Céline

Hermès

For his sophomore effort for Hermès, designer Christophe Lemaire tackled practical travel pieces. The essentials for a walking-heavy voyage in a hot climate were all accounted for: there were the flat walking sandals with built-in socks; headbands and kerchiefs to keep the hair in place; an all-white repertoire of sun-deflecting culottes and cropped harem pants; and a trunk's worth of silhouettes that stood away from the body. When not in white-out mode, Lemaire used an attractive desert palette of burnt orange, olive and aubergine. Though the pleated tunics, hooded cloaks and silk shorts might be welcome on a scorching day, Lemaire's more relevant fashion work had a more graphic quality, including a diamond-pattern woven skirt, a scarf-print dress and a colour-blocked two-piece skirt and top

Hermès

Kenzo

Humberto Leon and Carole Lim, the cool duo behind fashion chain Opening Ceremony, injected fresh juice into cult-classic Kenzo. Everything, from the models' funky eyewear to the wavy knits and ballooning silk trousers, spoke of an ultra-modern crispness and a brand new take on sportswear. The original details included elongated straw visors with silk scarf-heads, parachute-scrunching at waists and ankles, and a wonderfully graphic chicken-wire print. Based on this strong, well-defined minishow, it's clear this is definitely a duo worth watching

Kenzo

Givenchy

Sharp as a tack, Riccardo Tisci nails a razor silhouette and a hot look every season. For Spring/Summer the designer played with the extremes of both femininity and sport. For the former, he employed bouncing scrolls of ruffles along the edges of skin-tight skirts and second-skin jackets. There was a couture quality to the intricate layered peplums on jackets - especially when trimmed in glossy black eel skin or exotic water snake - culminating in a leather and chiffon version leaving silver dollar-sized half-punched holes in the top layer of the clothes. The sportiness came in the sleek, unforgiving lines that barely gave the models room to breathe but were a spectacular foil for the haute techniques, like the close-fitting leggings that are Tisci's bottoms of the season. Last but not least were the silk skirts, held up over shirts with ropes of shiny gold chain, the world's chicest dungarees

Givenchy

Stella McCartney

By far the best part of Stella McCartney's spring show was the collection of skimpy, body-conscious dresses constructed from sexed-up, sporty-looking patchworks. Using electric-blue silk, white netting and optical micro-prints, McCartney collaged the second-skin dresses, cutting arabesque trims into overlapping bonded fabrics. The effect was athletically chic, even arty, as the curved edges climbed organically and unevenly over legs and cut-out torsos. Luckily, McCartney's knack with everyday pieces wasn't compromised in the exercise: the dresses are easy enough to slide into for Sunday brunch as they are for a sizzling evening

Stella McCartney

Chloé

Expectations were high for Clare Waight Keller's debut as creative director at Chloé, after her successful run at Pringle. Keller has stated she looked to 'festival girls, girls on the street and David Bailey's photos of Marie Helvin and Anjelica Huston on a beach' for her sunny, feminine summer approach. The show had an uplifting spirit, with models bouncing in their strappy sandals while the pleats in their crepe-de-chine shirt dresses swung back and forth. Pleating seemed to be Keller's biggest design concept; she worked up from a knife scale to a car-wash flap. The best examples were overprinted to give a sun-ray effect on mid-calf dresses that fell in an A line from the neck. Also promising was the colourful embroidery. We would've loved to have seen it developed further

Chloé

Yves Saint Laurent

Nothing says Parisian fashion faster than a crispy gazar fabric, the lightest yet stiffest of noble materials and the one which Stefano Pilati used with enthusiasm at his spring show for Yves Saint Laurent. Gazar's properties allowed Pilati to flourish the edges of his skirts with scalloped ruffles and to create major volume out of something as simple as a scarf-like top. It was all rendered in a jewel-tone palette, a YSL signature, while softer pastels like sea green and nude were used on a stiffer jacquard that had a raised surface decoration

Yves Saint Laurent

Chanel

Karl Lagerfeld's imagination was sparked this season by the delicate, pastel vision of an underwater fantasy world. In a very literal sense, Lagerfeld played with his new fashion toy by sprinkling the models' hair with pearls and placing giant luminous shells in their hands as clutch purses. In a more figurative sense, the theme wound its way around the collection in the fabrics and details that were covered in an iridescent shimmer. Ribbons worked into white leather dresses, sequins covering white bouclé dresses or two-piece skirt suits all had the opal sheen of a shiny pearl. Even the flat go-go booties were in a shimmering metallic silver, while a finale dress was made from loops of black chiffon that looked a lot like mops of Japanese seaweed. But despite all the otherworldly shine, the shapes - boxy jackets, straight skirts, swinging dresses to the knee - were rigorously non-threatening and just the sort of fare Chanel's deep-pocketed customers like to gobble up after breakfast on the terrace at the Ritz.

Chanel

Valentino

The intricate lace-like workmanship built into the first looks at Valentino indicate just how haute this Rome-based brand still is. Designers Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri clearly know their way around couture fabrics and the laborious techniques inherent in their use. Since it was a spring collection, they employed all sorts of hole-making measures. First were bountiful macramés used on crisp cotton dresses in a delicate palette of white, cream and blush. Then they built things up by using Chantilly lace, super fine mesh, and more complex geometric lace intarsias. Though the bubblegum hue was a little hardcore even for the most precious of Valentino fans, we especially liked the darker run-in with black leather that was macraméd with flower cutouts.

Valentino

Paco Rabanne

If you're going to dive into a fashion heritage as bold and bright as that of Paco Rabanne, there are two ways to go about it. You can either politely reference the past but pave a brand new path, or you can challenge the legacy of the 1960s designer to a chicken fight, going head-to-head on nearly every one of the house's signatures. In his debut as Creative Director, Manish Arora went the ballsy latter route, taking on themes of chain mail, metal and sculptural fashion and blowing them out to costume-like proportions. Heavy metal was everywhere - from python plate chain mail, huge staples holding together metallised fabrics, metal ropes around the shoulders, to chain metal leggings and ski masks. In these clothes there was no room to move, let alone sit down, especially with the metal embroidery that protruded like nails or the finale of gowns that looked as though the models were wearing pleated metal windmills.

Paco Rabanne

Moncler Gamme Rouge

'Delicious' is the word we're using to describe Moncler's Gamme Rouge collection, because the clothes looked good enough to eat. And so did the giant cherry blossom trees that were used as set decorations. Naturally the delicate petals dangling from the trees found their way into the collection, first on neon yellow silk flowers, caged inside tufts of sheer tulle to create puffy sleeves or peplums, and later in huge leather appliqués on all-white coats and shift dresses. The seamless blend of sport and couture was what made this collection shine. Creative Director Giambattista Valli is a natural pro with the highly specific proportions, techniques and fabrics that are unique to haute couture, so his embrace of sporty hoods, zips and drawstrings made garments like a multicoloured fringe jacket or puffed nylon jacket printed with a landscape look extraordinarily original

Moncler Gamme Rouge

Alexander McQueen

Sarah Burton is a ready-to-wear designer who shows during the Paris pret-a-porter schedule, but with the latest collection she presented for Alexander McQueen, it's clear that the designer could knock the socks off any haute couture label. Bringing lofty ideas, dramatic silhouettes and fancy techniques to the design table is actually nothing new at McQueen, but the fact that Burton is able to carry her former boss's torch so effortlessly is a true testament to her skills. Up close inspection of the collection revealed elaborate clusters of real sea shells - either luminous all white or hot corals - that had been hand cut and hand drilled before being sewn onto gowns with short skirts, long trains and open bodices. The workmanship was impeccable from the start, including hand-pleated plissés dipped in gold paint, all the way through to laser cut leather applied onto lace, and 5,000 ruffles that were hand cut and sewn onto a pink gown.

Alexander McQueen

Louis Vuitton

After squeezing his models into latex and dominatrix contraptions last Fall, this season Marc Jacobs spun his Louis Vuitton women into the sugariest confections possible. Infinitely sweet and vaguely child-like, the models were first unveiled posing atop a horse carousel in a mouth-watering mis-en-scène that quickly came alive with lights and movement. There was not a square inch of these girly grown-ups that was not available for inspection, as the clothes were dominated by hole-happy broderie anglaise and layer upon layer of pastel tulle. Transparency gave the girlishness a sexual jolt along with the naughty patent leather mule heels. The sheer concept also made its way to Vuitton's coveted accessories, including lace LV logo-ed umbrellas and the famous monogram bag, which was now in pure sheer white voile, embroidered with white LVs. Jacobs is an expert showman and never fails to dazzle his audience with proper entertainment, however this season he also pulled out some truly great clothes, like a magnificent nabuk crocodile coat made in the exact hue of lemon meringue pie

Louis Vuitton

Miu Miu

All you had to do was look at the models from the neck up to figure out what kind of mood Miuccia Prada was in for her Spring Miu Miu show. Hair was plastered back on their heads with what can only be described as 'goo', leaving the tail ends sprouting out in an unruly mess. Faces were cleared of every kind of beauty enhancer possible, leaving fiercely shadowed red eyes to pop out like the world's worst hangover. But traditional looks have never been Ms Prada's game, and the unusual faces set the stage for an offbeat collection that combined the ultimate in classicism with weird twists and new proportions. It all started at the waist, where Prada elongated the silhouettes using high-waisted moulded skirts and scrunched up honeycomb smocking over shirts and trapeze-shaped dresses. The details, of course, were quirky: off-kilter mini shoulder capes tied with velvet ribbon, and mule or leather boots with intarsia floral designs and Versailles curved heels. As far as next spring's shopping list: sign us up for the brightly coloured lace tunics worn over pleated nude skirts