Trust Karl Lagerfeld to embrace everything from modern art through the new Gallic/American love-in pioneered by President Nicolas Sarkozy. And Stefano Pilati to play a different game.
Designers used to divide neatly into those with a classic bent versus the romantics. But now that fashion is all in the mix, the ideal is to be an artist/decorator.
A civil slice of shopper's heaven was found again and again crisscrossing Södermalm, a funky bohemian neighborhood in south Stockholm dotted with second-hand stores.
Designers from Dries Van Noten to Christian Lacroix are proposing a bright future for summer 2008, with an eyepopping change from urban neutrals taken up by powerful and forward-looking designers.
Valentino's ready-to-wear finale was a perfect show in terms of expressing the designer's spirit, especially the harmonious prettiness that brought dresses of eternal elegance spiced with new thoughts.
A host of exclusive, trendy, price-is-right brands are rebuilding fashion's middle market with a design strategy based on originality and a company structure geared to opening shops.
Thimble and thread may have given way to the sewing machine a long time ago but constructing clothes has always been the most unglamorous part of fashion, at least until sewing machines got a spot on prime-time television and pattern-making resurfaced with Matrix-style computer effects.
Was that the open mouth of Marcel Marceau, in a vast image at the back of Viktor &Rolf's runway? The Dutch design duo channeled the French mime artist, who died last month, using as inspiration the Pierrot collars, generous volumes and harlequin effects - right down to the patterns on shoe heels.
