FOR OYSTER BY KATHARINA KOWALEWSKI

Return of the A-Line, pencil skirts, mohair, fur, leather and almost no trousers: Fall/Winter 2007/2008 announces surprises and a wide range of trends. From La Tour Montparnasse (Bless) to dark places outside of Paris city limits (Alexander McQueen)… my best friend during this fashion week was the shuttle-bus: the only way to be on time for the next show in the jungle of changing venues where snow was falling at Chanel, tornados raged at Hussein Chalayan and backstage became (the best?) part of the excellent staging at Dries van Noten. The pre-show time was as exciting as seeing the models change in between. Excitement thanks to runway comebacks by the likes of Jeremy Scott, Collette Dinnigan or again Martine Sitbon with her “Rue du Mail” label - while new art directors for established houses pushed anticipation to new levels. There was a certain “anti-style” attitude: – intelligently expressed at Miu Miu with Miuccia Prada’s subtle criticism of the plastic world we live in by exaggerated, wide-cut pleated skirts (this away from the body cuts alos appeard at Louis Vuitton) - or the dark/angry/tough looks at Chloé, Nina Ricci and Alexander McQueen that seemed to leave the fashion crowd mostly disappointed. Especially at Chloé with a very unexpected turn to a dark girl in Dr. Martens boots (also seen at Paule Ka, Yohji Yamamoto and Sonia Rykiel). Old codes were broken – perhaps excessively so - at Cacharel where the models looked more like cleaning women with their headscarves and the conspicuous lack of color and pattern. This left a big question mark on the firing and hiring of new designers for established couture houses and reserved applause and space for new talents presenting their best shows ever: Tsumori Chisato and Bruno Pieters. Not easy to find major trends in this season’s diverging design directions- but to avoid being reduced to analyzing colours, here are my choices:

Party Dress

Winter or summer there is always a reason to celebrate something or just have a glamorous outfit. So the Party goes on theme has inspired a lot of designers, for example, Ungaro: “I love nightclubbing in London”, Balmain’s “rock and roll chic” and Catelbajac’s “JC/DC in Technicolor”. Giambattista Valli did the outfits and also threw the Sidaction party on Saturday where his voluminous and sophisticated creations would fit perfectly. The Jeremy Scott show did not only celebrate his late show as a party: the entrance policy of the press woman also had a lot in common with select clubs: not everybody with an invitation could get in as the venue was already full. I flashed back to the night at Le Baron when Scarlett Johansson was dancing inside and the whole world wanted get in... For this trend, outfits the sequined or sparkling night-looks focus on micro-mini dresses. Jasmine Di Milo imagined even a citron party dress. A less party and more red carpet feeling was expected (and delivered) by Elie Saab who showed in his Prêt-à-Porter debut that Hollywood is his niche. More oriented to the past were the 20s-inspired cabaret and Pigalle collections from Zucca and Cher Michel Klein - who took the audience to an intimate paint atelier with lovely short studded dresses. The best comes last with John Galliano who invited us to Montmartre and gave his models permission to have personality as they strutted his outrageous creations and flirted with two male models… passing figures from another time, just playing the seduction game. For the after-party look, John Galliano showed his “wet girls” looking so wicked and sexy in black transparent lace dresses and another high point was the colourful artistry of Pat McGrath’s make-up. Even if other designers stayed away from the party scene there was some kind of freshness conveyed at least throughout the choice of strong colours. Used for little intelligent accents like feathers at Gaspard Yurkievich and neon colour gloves at Karl Lagerfeld - or in a more obvious way like at Chanel - strong colours will illuminate winter 2007/2008. Véronique Leroy played with strong green, Chloé loved orange, Valentino made his red literally come alive while Bruno Pieters showed the real power of this colour mixed with the fitting lipstick and a diabolic hairstick,and Atsuro Tayama sent out some bright colour flashes on his dresses.

Rug up

From the cool green biker blouson and dress at Alena Akhmadullina to the oversized fur jacket (seen at Antonio Berardi, Kai Kuhne,) - these two beast-like materials will be absolute musts for next winter. The leather on the podium was soft and cut in a new way catching light almost like silk, especially for dresses. Great leather cuts also at Rick Owens. Brown leather was also present in the form of 70s inspired trenches and coats. Suede jumpsuits from Haider Ackermann are very wearable - and not only by Irina. When it comes to fur, the strongest statement was made by Véronique Leroy with her fur hooded jacket. A cool and urban feeling with studied layering came from Isabel Marant who showed her fur waistcoat with long golden jewellery chains and an Iroquois coiffure that will certainly inspire Paris fashionistas. Fur got intimate with lace at A.F. Vandevorst and the results were gorgeous on the models with the long black tear-stripe make-up. Now, obviously, the comeback of fur is a scandal for the Peta (People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals) movement: “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” was the statement of two activists trying to demonstrate naked at Valentino, but who were man-handled and bundled off by security. They did, however, succeed in their naked show at Christian Lacroix who showed fur collars. Just note that Valentino showed only fur sleeves and last time they went on stage, there was no fur at all in the collection. Luckily, for all fur trend lovers: Stella Mc Cartney shows a heart for animals by offering fake fur.

Environment natural vs. unnatural

It’s not a real trend but more a current of thought that emerges from some collections. The environment theme came through in the form of installations - but also motifs and material choices. Chanel’s catwalk show choose the snow theme and built big clouds in the Grand Palais. This polar staging was accompanied with native prints of animals endangered by the climate change like penguins on sweaters. Yes, this was really Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel... These winter motifs also appeared at Stella McCartney on big pullovers with snowflakes. And if you need a absolutly cute prollover dress take please the green knee long from Junko Shimada. The real storm came the next day at Hussein Chalayan where a strong wind was blowing in a world of micro-technology hats and dresses - all alight with the right proportion of crystal sparkle. Even if this show did not reach the heights of his last one - the micro technology was too expected – one has to admit that it is a difficult task to top his last collection and that he at least he showed he’s thinking of the future through his fashion. His funny vinyl bodies showed that environment has a role to play when it comes to choosing materials. On one hand, as protective innovations like the NASA waterproof technology at Undercover - and on the other hand, through play with synthetic and natural materials. From leather lined with neoprene at Miu Miu to plastic bags at Antonio Berardi and up to brands like YSL, this seems to be a preoccupation. When it came to prints, subtle and soft nature patterns that looked like rippling water or quivering leaves at Robert Normand. At Issey Miyake the green and brown-orange dresse looked like savage plants. Tsumori Chisato was inspired by the mountains of China and old Japanese paintings and created an outrageous collection from this impressive nature. Her perfect colour combinations and cuts clearly illustrated her immense talent. In terms of nature girls, the Minä Perhonen showed how healthy and fun winter in the countryside can be. Clad in powerful pattern mixes of red cheeks, the models were softly jumping on the stage to a subtle whistle… We can’t help but think it would be great to see young women dressed like this next winter...

Strong Shoulders

When it comes to shoulders there are designers who can tell a whole collection from just looking at this part of the garment. The only thing we need to know is that it’s not a question of 80’s shoulder pads - but of the work of the big ones like the Belgian Martin Margiela with his geometric leather capes and extremely built-up shoulders creating a triangle silhouette; or the more subtle Alber Elbaz who announced for Lanvin the “it’s all in the sleeve” look. At Dice Kayek the shoulder area is accentuated with different colours in either round or more geometric cuts. Even Pilati at YSL tried to build from the shoulder part and presented a predominantly grey collection where he created elegance by playing with volume for classics like the tuxedo. At Viktor & Rolf, the poor skinny girls had to carry a heavy weight on their shoulders: a sound and lighting installation! The idea of sending out every girl with different lighting and music sounded interesting, the implementation was sarcastic: the lights looked like crosses and the skinny models walking with this framework reminded us of a modern-day procession where fashion glam’ light weighs too heavily. The fact that they were wearing yellow oversized Dutch clogs made the audience hold their breath - not for the beauty of the design but more in compassion with the models who could fall at any time... The work on the volume of the clothes and the play with this unusual installation were only of secondary interest…

Checks and multicultural patterns

THE pattern of the winter is checks, plaid or tartan, treated in varied design direction and moods. Sophisticated plaid pants at Véronique Branquinho, with a Spanish tango tack at Kenzo, caped at Jefen and Flintstones-inspired at Vivienne Westwood. The Celtic and Scottish feeling reached its “Highlands” with Coco Rocha at the Jean Paul Gaultier show making the audience forget that she was a Canadian native and not from the land of tartans. Hussein Chalayan was just a step away from (or ahead of ?) the plaid trend showing stripes in shades of blue, grey red and black. But the real twist in pattern is not only plaids. It has a more multi (culti) message to offer. This was the case at Chanel where the plaid pattern blended with tweeds, red stripes and a blue patterned waistcoat. A special lesson of street culture and ethnic influences came from Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciga. His sophisticated patchworking of Africa, Asia and South America merged multiple cultural origins into one, making it difficult to identify and/or label them: A clear reflection on our modern, cosmopolitan world of blended cultures and migrant identities. He showed humour with a revisited Palestinian scarf - the taboo street trend which, placed on the catwalk, pushes Balenciaga defiantly forward from last season’s futurism into today’s urban multicultural elegance.

Fashion would be not fashion if there were not for somebody making absolute fun out of it. Yohi Yamamoto invented a double “Y” signature for an allover pattern in a prankish wink at LV logo-mania. And he was not the first, as this idea of revisiting brand codes in a mix with butterflies, flowers or skulls has already been explored by German designer Lala Berlin.