Lights, cameras and plenty of action
Fashion
After Milan Fashion Week ended, winter 2007/08 fashion shows kicked off in Paris on Monday. Eccentric styles have already been spotted. Viktor & Rolf have sent out models in dresses that were illuminated from within or hung from the light fittings above the catwalk among simple, sophisticatedly tailored clothes. "We wanted to emphasise how important the show is to us - so each outfit is a self-sufficient fashion show," said Viktor & Rolf.
British designer Vivienne Westwood transformed her catwalk into a stone age cave, sending out models in high furry hats, wrapped in knitted cardigans, with bone pendants dangling from their necks.
Ms Westwood brought out models wearing blouses with armour-like pads attached to their shoulders. Some dresses featured large air pockets at breasts and hips, making the skinny models look more shapely.
With their over-knee boots and mini-skirts, models looked far more stylish than TV culture's best-known representatives of the stone age - the fur-clad Flintstone family.
Long considered an "enfant terrible" in the fashion industry, fashion experts say eccentric designers such as Ms Westwood, France's Jean-Paul Gaultier or Britain's John Galliano are helping to give the entire industry an exciting edge.
20070303-lifestyle--fashion2.jpgGaultier, the creator of pop star Madonna's famous cone-shaped bustier, picked up on the tartan theme, sending out models with feathers in their hair, wearing checkered coats with small ribbons at the back.
Emerging from smoke onto the catwalk, a model in a bright red jacket surprised editors at the beginning of the show as she kicked her legs and spinned across the runway in a Celtic dance.
"You don't have to be able to jump and dance like that to wear my clothes," Gaultier, 54, joked after the show, which also featured long velvet skirts and fur-trimmed coats.
"You must not even wear feathers. You can wear them in a much simpler and less spectacular way," he said.
The swashbuckling Galliano, 46, who has based his past collections on themes ranging from ghosts to geishas and goths, presented a collection for Christian Dior in the spirit of his Japan-inspired haute couture show earlier this year.
Models paraded out in lampshade-sized straw hats, wearing large-collared jackets with origami-pleats at the pockets. Actress Mischa Barton looked on as girls in jackets with tube-shaped shimmering sleeves strutted down a white staircase.
Fashion experts say eccentric designers give the industry an exciting edge.
British designer Vivienne Westwood transformed her catwalk into a stone age cave, sending out models in high furry hats, wrapped in knitted cardigans, with bone pendants dangling from their necks.
Ms Westwood brought out models wearing blouses with armour-like pads attached to their shoulders. Some dresses featured large air pockets at breasts and hips, making the skinny models look more shapely.
With their over-knee boots and mini-skirts, models looked far more stylish than TV culture's best-known representatives of the stone age - the fur-clad Flintstone family.
Long considered an "enfant terrible" in the fashion industry, fashion experts say eccentric designers such as Ms Westwood, France's Jean-Paul Gaultier or Britain's John Galliano are helping to give the entire industry an exciting edge.
20070303-lifestyle--fashion2.jpgGaultier, the creator of pop star Madonna's famous cone-shaped bustier, picked up on the tartan theme, sending out models with feathers in their hair, wearing checkered coats with small ribbons at the back.
Emerging from smoke onto the catwalk, a model in a bright red jacket surprised editors at the beginning of the show as she kicked her legs and spinned across the runway in a Celtic dance.
"You don't have to be able to jump and dance like that to wear my clothes," Gaultier, 54, joked after the show, which also featured long velvet skirts and fur-trimmed coats.
"You must not even wear feathers. You can wear them in a much simpler and less spectacular way," he said.
The swashbuckling Galliano, 46, who has based his past collections on themes ranging from ghosts to geishas and goths, presented a collection for Christian Dior in the spirit of his Japan-inspired haute couture show earlier this year.
Models paraded out in lampshade-sized straw hats, wearing large-collared jackets with origami-pleats at the pockets. Actress Mischa Barton looked on as girls in jackets with tube-shaped shimmering sleeves strutted down a white staircase.
Fashion experts say eccentric designers give the industry an exciting edge.