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Dries van Noten's parkas and heeled tennis shoes on Wednesday suggested sporty chic may be shaping up to be one of summer's key looks, while sweet femininity reigned at Valentino.
From head to toe, the Belgian designer wants women to be comfortable for spring-summer 2007, loosening up the silhouette, especially for dresses in cool airy cuts, but keeping a tight reign on proportion.
Printed or plain, he gathered the waist for instance on a collarless shirt dress but never pulled it tight, or flatteringly drew in fluidity at the knee with a cuff-like hem but not strictly.
Billowy parkas, roomy front-pleated trousers, perhaps with a sporty side stripe, and laced-up white pumps with a chunky or wedged heel all spoke of practicality.
But that was not the end of the story.
The designer glammed-up the whole look against the backdrop of the ornate Fine Arts School with brightly coloured pieces that sparkled, such as a glittery bluey-pinky-yellowy strappy vest with a simple grey T-shirt just visible underneath.
Baggy shorts and T-shirt were teamed with a bomber jacket in multi-coloured sequined splodges. Or a chic top in black sequins under a practical navy trench with sporty white trousers, both elasticated and zipped at the ankle, seemed to sum it up.
In his style programme, Valentino said of his collection for next summer that "a new vision of effortless luxury has come of age". His show of nearly 70 outfits certainly made luxury look effortless.
Kicking off the glamour with his signature fire-engine red, the Italian designer sketched a short fluid silhouette in an A-line for a softly pleated dress in georgette.
A red wool pea coat had a full swingy back like a cape.
Pleats, lace insets, frills and bows gave the look for daytime a sweet air of charm but came into their own as stunning features for floor-length gowns in shades of ivory, yellow, shell pink, and, of course, red.
Again pleats were used to boost volume, while triangular lacey insets were added to a sky blue, slinky satiny dress with a plunging V-cut and fine straps to delicate and graceful effect.
Karl Lagerfeld's pristine white shirts and cigarette pants gave his punchy collection a military air at times, with four white ties of different lengths even worn at once.
Little dresses were a change of tack but maintained the dynamic, such as a gleaming white pleated dress or a straight-cut smock also in crisp white with balloon sleeves.
Shiney black was used for cinched wide belts or thin low slung ones, while lacey tights with back seams softened the defined outline. Tiered detail looked almost feathery, except for being geometric in shape and precision.
Skinny jeans and longer floaty dresses completed the look, which was presented with hair cut in angular steps and a long pony tail at the back, as well as defined Sixties eye make-up.
At Sophia Kokosalaki, skirt and dress hemlines hung in playful uneven points that floatily filled on movement. Or they were gently rolled under. Heels were shaped like old piano feet for both high and lower court shoes.
Swirls of fabric and dense ruching were fine, rigorously crafted adornments.
On Thursday, Yves Saint Laurent, Celine, Emanuel Ungaro, Cacharel and Leonard unveil their ready-to-wear collections for spring-summer 2007. Paris fashion week runs until Sunday.
kjm/gil
AFPLifestyle-fashion-France
AFP 041847 GMT 10 06
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