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Fashion | 5 Oct 2010 | By By Malaika Byng

Fashion week venues S/S 2011: womenswear

Peter Pilotto and Richard Nicoll staged their shows on a platform of the now defunct Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station - one of the official London Fashion Week venues

No detail is overlooked at the best fashion shows, and the choices of venues, these days, are as ambitious as the collections they showcase. Brands thrill the throng by commandeering buildings that are normally off limits to mere mortals, creating special installations and transforming disused spaces, with results that are ever more spectacular. Here we take a look at the best.

Brioni took over La Triennale in Milan. Costumising the space with its signature red, the fashion house gave each attendee one of its 65th anniversary moleskine notebooks, illustrated by Carlo Stanga

The backdrop of the dramatic showspace at Spazio Fendi was made of laser-cut organza, which was dyed to look like it had been scorched. The same technique was applied to garments in the collection

A close-up of the Fendi backdrop

Gucci’s own showspace evolves season after season, this time with a rich gold backdrop

The geometric seating and catwalk arrangement at Jil Sander was illuminated by a Thierry Dreyfus-designed installation. Rather than the normal VHIs, Dreyfus used HMI cold blue daylight, which he covered with a frost foil for a diffused, airy glow

As with meanswear, Prada’s womenswear show took place on an elevated stage, surrounding by stadium-style seating at Fondazione Prada, designed by OMA and think tank AMO

The illuminated catwalk gave the illusion that the models were walking on water

A ramshackled slipway rose above a thick sea mist at Christian Dior’s South Sea inspired show in Espace Ephémère Tuileries

Over in Paris, Dries Van Noten chose the ’naturally rough’ surrounds of the riverside basement of the French Fashion Institute

Dries Van Noten

The graphic set for Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci at the Lycée Carnot

A curtain at Halle Freyssinet pulled back to reveal a makeshift arena at the Hèrmes show, around which dressage troupe Cavalcade paraded on horseback, illuminated by St Louis crystal chandeliers

Maison Martin Margiela opted for wholesome, old-school look at Pavillon Concorde, with rustic benches and wooden floors

Show production designer Mathias Wendzinski of Eyesight, clad the interior of the Westin Hotel in mirror for the Roland Mouret show, with lighting designed by Thierry Dreyfus

The minimal white Valentino showspace at Halle Freyssinet.
Photograph by Pablo Arroyo

Illustrator Piet Paris turned the Viktor & Rolf set at Espace Ephémère Tuileries into a life-sized sketchbook, filled with forms and colours that reflected the graphic collection

A close up of Piet Paris’ illustrations at Viktor & Rolf

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton’s show at Cour Carrée du Louvre was more than a little camp, with giant taxidermied tigers wearing fringe necklaces atop zebra skin carpets. The marble-effect stage was backed by black mirror

Karl Lagerfeld looked to the gardens of the Palace of Versailles for inspiration, filling the Grand Palais with a topiary-style maze of stone pebbles, punctuated by giant fountains

Wunderkind’s rig-style installation at Palais de Tokyo

Wunderkind

Fashion week venues S/S 2011: womenswear

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