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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Imogen Fox

Micro-trends from Paris fashion week

paris fashion week trends: Celine capes
Capes: You might already be ahead of the curve on this one, because Céline, Chloé and, consequently, Zara are selling camel wool ones right now. This trend looks set to diversify. Chloé reprised them in rust-coloured knitwear for a slightly 70s Charlie-girl feel. At its Arctic-themed show, Chanel (pictured) gave us capes-cum-polar bears and house-tweed capes. Roland Mouret’s tweed-hooded versions had a Scottish Widows vibe about them and could work brilliantly as an evening cape. Meanwhile, McQueen had included capes in his final collection – his were stately and ­ornately medieval Photograph: CATWALKING
paris fashion week trends: Stella McCartney little heels
Little Heels: Made an appearance last season, now back for good. Stella McCartney’s whole collection was shod in pointy mini heels in shiny neutrals and black (pictured) – all the better for showing off her perfect trousers. Isabel Marant has previous in creating the season’s must-have footwear. The easy-chic Parisian label also went for pointed kitten heels with bows for a 50s rockabilly look. ­Surprisingly, the art deco super-stacked ­loafers at Balenciaga looked amazing but irrelevant, and one prominent front-rower whose ­business it is to sell ­stupidly expensive crazy shoes was overheard declaring that she was ­“finally over mad heels” Photograph: PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
paris fashion week trends: Balmain gold
Gold: Is all this talk of new minimalism and restraint making you feel like you want to rebel in a storm of glam-rock trash? Fear not – Christophe Decarnin of Balmain is here. His mini dresses with strong shoulders (still), his disco highwayman frock coats (pictured) and his skinny leather trousers were all flashing gold. Obviously, they will be ridiculously priced but what’s the betting New Look can knock out a lamé mini number for the price of two champagne cocktails? Dries van Noten showed that gold doesn’t have to be trashy by mixing metallics with offbeat prints and sweatshirting, and Isabel Marant used gold to razz up her 50s look Photograph: Gil-Gonzalez Alain/EMPICS Entertainment
paris fashion week trends: Cerruti gloves
Gloves: This season’s bags. Gloves looked at their most chic and ladylike at Louis Vuitton (pictured), where the show was a generous nod to Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman. At ­Lanvin, long evening gloves were foxy and often pimped with oversized cocktail ­jewels. At Cerruti, which is back on fashion’s radar as it now ­designed by London-based Richard Nicoll, gloves were sharp and minimal. Presumably gloves are back now because posh plainness does not come cheap and ­designers are always looking at ways to provide – to use ­luxury-goods-speak – an “entry point into the brand” Photograph: CATWALKING
paris fashion week trends: Alber Elbaz draping
Draping: This trend is a real chance for ­designers to show off because ­draping, darting and folding at its best looks easy but is ­incredibly difficult to get right. Vionnet has historically relied on drapery and next season it has a tonne of velvet and silk draping and folding. Roland Mouret applied his ample skills in folding and draping to jackets as well as dresses, and at Lanvin, Alber Elbaz’s evening dresses (pictured) were taken out of minimal territory with a fine display of the art. As a sidenote to draping there’s also going to be a lot of trailing next season too, from trailing silk shirt-tails at Céline to trailing back-hems at Stella
Photograph: CATWALKING
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