Fashion is On

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Watching an Isabel Marant show isn’t so much about exercising professional judgement as making a new season shopping list. That would explain why so many fashion editors have been wearing her autumn/winter 2009 leopard or python print dress on the front row.

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HANNAH MACGIBBON’S third collection for Chloe this afternoon was a gratifying manoeuvre that proved she has found her feet and is enjoying herself there.

The Chloe girl, she said, “is a romantic traveller at heart, her trans-seasonal wardrobe reflects her nomadic spirit, with chic enduring pieces that emphasise craftsmanship and detail”.

It was good to see a Chloe girl back whom we recognised, but whose worldly travels had given her a new infectious confidence.

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Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli seem to have found their footing at Valentino. Their spring outing disclosed a design vocabulary that was every bit as feminine as Mr. Valentino’s vision and possibly more romantic. It was a beauty.

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At some shows in Paris, the seating arrangements are so cramped that you can physically feel the audience reaction in the body language running along a bench. At Givenchy, there was no possible doubt about what it was. From the very first look out—a geometrically striped black and white jersey jacket over a graphic, lozenge-fronted top and draped pants—everyone was on high alert, jostling and craning for the best possible view.

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t’s coming up on 20 years since Madonna anointed Jean Paul Gaultier an iconic brassiere engineer. Lest anyone forget his once-provocative contribution to the fashion landscape, Gaultier anchored his spring collection.

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Anyone who thinks tough chic was an Eighties invention, all high glitz and déclassé, needs a brush-up on film noir, examples of which typically feature a strong-shouldered, holds-her-own kind of woman of sharp tongue and sharper mind who extracts herself from countless perilous, shadowy situations — while looking incredibly chic. John Galliano devoted his spring show to the queen bee of such gals, Lauren Bacall, and her trench-wearing other half, Humphrey Bogart.

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HIS second outing on the Emilio Pucci catwalk and Norwegian designer Peter Dundas has no intention of dumbing down his take on it.

While his predecessor Matthew Williamson was occasionally accused by critics of not putting enough of his own stamp on the iconic label, Dundas was damned for quite the opposite last season – Pucci fans wanted more of what they knew and were shocked by his highly sexed, barely dressed autumn/winter 2009-10 muse.

But sticking to his guns will serve him well and will force his audience to understand what he’s trying to do. Tonight he promised us “today’s Pucci girl” – inspired by “summer, bold ‘Italianism’, a touch of Pirate, but above all, a mix of ease and precision”.

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THERE is a feeling in Milan this week that designers are going back to doing what they know best – sex-on-legs at Versace, cut-off denim at D&G, easy tailored elegance at Armani – and if anyone proved the point it was Frida Giannini for Gucci this afternoon.

Natasha Poly started us off in a tight white minidress, strapped onto her in every which way, with high, strappy shoes to match.

As always the Gucci woman is powerfully sexy in her form-fitting, flesh-baring clothes – but this is a subjective sex appeal that she imposes on those looking at her – no witness, male or female, dare objectify her.

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