Spring is in the air. It started last week with Giorgio Armani, who opened market for his Armani Collezioni lineup in New York.

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Chinese fashion designer Kinghero launched its first international listing of shares in Frankfurt, a European stock market that is actively courting companies from the far East.

Kinghero placed one million shares and raised 15 million euros (20 million dollars) in the operation, the second by a Chinese firm here this year and the 23rd overall, market officials said.

“We are delighted that so many investors found our story convincing,” chief executive Yu Zhang said in a statement.

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JOHN GALLIANO will become the subject of a new exhibition at The Wapping Project Bankside this November.

Entitled Zanna & John Galliano, the photographic exhibition will feature images of the designer – who is known for his theatrical aesthetic both on and off the catwalk – shot by Zanna, a London-based photographer with whom Galliano has collaborated with in the past.

Among the images to go on show include the works Warzone House – in which Galliano is pictured sitting in an armchair in the grounds of a stately home – and Chevalier John Galliano,where the designer is photographed in a luxurious dressing room wearing a top hat.

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First lady favourite Jason Wu is expanding his designer repertoire to accessories. Following his eyewear launch in March this year, Wu is to create a leather goods line.

“[My eyewear collection] is only the beginning of my accessories range, stay tuned for later this year – there is more to come,” he said. “Now that I have an established ready-to-wear business it seems to be the natural step to expand into the world of Jason Wu. There is so much more I would like to do to complete the vision.”

The designer, who’s pieces have been worn on Michelle Obama, was in Paris last week showcasing his resort collection before heading to Florence to research his new range.

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Karl Lagerfeld has often insisted that his collections come to him in dreams, but following his new Chanel couture show, he claimed the dream this time had been a nightmare. “No, no, just kidding,” he quickly added, but there was a weight to the clothes that suggested a darker thread in Chanel this season. Compared to the glistening sci-fi whites of his Spring couture, these looks had a moody tinge. The colors, for a start: maroon, loden, navy, brown, camel. Next, the fabrics. As the show unfolded, there were velvet trims on shadow plaids, crystal trims on camel, fur trims on tweed. Dark tapestry was crusted with embroidery and beading. Imperial gold detailing against a field of navy sequins made Freja Beha Erichsen look like a girl waiting for her Ruritanian soldier.

Then there were the proportions—tiered, short-over-long. A cropped jacket with elbow-length sleeves topped a high-waisted, to-the-knee skirt—a look that combined elongation and bulk in a way that was intriguing though likely to pose a challenge to many bodies.

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Old Hollywood has had a hold on Giorgio Armani since he was a boy. His first suit today—the skirt limning the body, then flaring out just below the knee; the draped jacket with the definite shoulder; the crepe silk overcoat thrown insouciantly over the lot—could have been Carmen Kass playing Carole Lombard (with Sharon Tate’s hair). Even the shoes with their thick Perspex heels chipped in. The outfit set the pace for the designer’s Armani Privé show—not retro but remarkably restrained and businesslike, with a subtle monochrome feel that was underscored by the many shades of brown on display, reflecting the theme “A Play on Amber.”

The draped jacket and skirt combination is an Armani classic, of course. Here, he emphasized fluidity, exaggerating and softening the drape, extending one scarf collar over a shoulder and fastening it with a large wood and amber brooch.

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Elie Saab loves La Fenice, Venice’s legendary opera house. As its name would suggest, this phoenix has burned to the ground and risen from the flames three times. For his Fall Couture collection, Saab borrowed the ruched velvet of La Fenice’s curtains, the gilt and blue of its decoration, and even the fire and ash of its hellish moments for one multicolored mousseline gown. Given that backstory, the result was understandably a little overwrought.

Before the show, Saab said, “If a woman doesn’t want ‘rich,’ she doesn’t come to couture.” So rich was what he gave her, from the moment Karolina Kurkova sashayed out onto the catwalk in a gown of deep red guipure lace swathed in silk tulle. The dress that followed her was short but scarcely simpler, with its bands of chiffon and lace liberally doused with sequins.

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Right now, in the Paris hotel rooms of many fashion editors, there are bunches of flowers, plastic-wrapped and raffia-tied. When they returned to their rooms after the Dior couture show today, did the attendees make the connection between what they’d just seen on the catwalk and what was sitting in a vase in front of them? Stephen Jones created headgear that looked like a florist’s plastic wrap. Someone else contributed the raffia belts. And nature did the rest. “It’s the most inspiring teacher,” said John Galliano, after a show that was a hymn to all things floral.

Part of his research involved studying real flowers, spending an hour watching the light change on a parrot tulip, for instance. That partly explained the collection’s wonderful colors, especially the vibrancy of the dégradé effects.

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Mark Badgley and James Mischka are in expansion mode. After opening a Palm Beach boutique this past winter, the duo added a Newport outpost last week. For Resort, they took inspiration from the two locales. Well, where were you expecting with these designers? Williamsburg?

Badgley and Mischka had Newport in the Gilded Age in mind: One gown was literally glittering (a strapless gold number dripping in sequins), while another featured a Belle Époque-style bustled skirt. Other references to the coastal Rhode Island town were more playful: Pale ribbons shimmered like shells; jeweled belts resembled sunken treasures.

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When Christopher Bailey said he wanted the clothes in Burberry Prorsum’s pre-collection to look like they’d had a life before you met them, he was talking about much more than that slightly faded, vintage-y English rose mood that his Burberry has evoked so expertly in the past. Here, the texture of a dress in ruched and washed leather suggested something much more ancient—a sunbaked lizard’s skin, perhaps. That was in keeping with the exotic subtext Bailey was exploring. He started with uniforms from the British colonies in the 1930′s and forties that he found in the company archives, which meant plenty of the authentic military shapes and detailing—belts (the best in python), utility pockets, epaulets, wrist straps—that added spine to Burberry’s standout Fall collection.

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Giorgio Armani played with shapes and patterns for his Armani Collezioni collection — with bold geometric tops, feminine floral skirts and chic stripes on classic pin-striped suits and nautical Ts. He showed his attention to detail with textured and treated leathers, giving the lineup a cool, urban edge.

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Sarah Mower, the British Fashion Council’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent (and revered fashion writer), Emma Watson, and US Vogue hosted a party here in NYC last week to introduce the UK’s next wave of fashion stars. The party, at Keith McNally’s new restaurant Pulino’s, rounded up three days of Stateside schmoozing for Britain’s up-and-coming fashion designers.

The Council showcased 23 designers; the idea being to introduce them to stylists, editors, writers and buyers in the all-important American market. The chosen few included: Atalanta Weller, Christopher Raeburn, Craig Lawrence, David Koma, Eun Jeong, Fannie Schiavoni, Hannah Marshall, Heikki Salonen, Holly Fulton, James Long, Jean Pierre Braganza, KTZ, Louise Gray, MFP-Maria Francesca Pepe, Mark Fast, Mary Katrantzou, Meadham Kirchhoff, Michael Lewis, Michael Van Der Ham, Natascha Stolle, Peter Pilotto, Tim Soar and Todd Lynn.

Five of these designers recently received the prestigious Council’s NEWGEN award and were sponsored by Topshop
to exhibit at London Fashion Week for the first time in February. They were Christopher Raeburn (signature sustainable parachute fabric), Natascha Stolle (soft tailoring), MFP-Maria Francesca Pepe (avant-garde ready-to-wear), David Koma (sculpted, body-conscious dresses) and Fannie Schiavoni’s (hand-made chain jewellery).

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