Pastel tweed to sweeten

PARIS FASHION WEEK: In a city that takes la mode as seriously as Paris, where Le Monde describes the heart as balancing between body and corset, both Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier are designers who understand better than most the playfulness and the fun of modern dressing and the confident new feminine spirit.

At the Chanel show, models smiled, laughed and flirted, catching accurately the mood of this light, carefree collection. How could you be serious toting little Rubik cube or compact disc clutch bags with ropes of pearls swinging from your epaulettes? The girls were full of joie de vivre, and so were the clothes.

Naturellement, there was tweed and lots of it, in mint, raspberry and enough pastels to sweeten any fashion palate. Reinvented in all sorts of ways that seem to come as easily as breathing to Mr Lagerfeld, tweed was even used as edging on long trench coats or to define armholes and cuffs.

Ladylike suits in slubby textures and stained crêpe de chine blouses were casual rather than prim, while long rose tweed coats kept kittenish pleats in place. That iconic Chanel soft cardigan jacket was occasionally edged with white crochet and neat tweed sweaters used to dress down long ruffled or lace skirts.

Dresses were girly and romantic; one in sheer black polka-dotted chiffon spread down, gypsy-style, in long fringes over a full skirt. Other dreamy creations in gentle black- and-white printed chiffon just fluttered along the catwalk to the accompaniment of Blondie's Heart of Gold. This was a show with sparkle in every sense where even denim got a tasteful Midas touch.

Jean Paul Gaultier certainly took the corset to the heart and other regions at his show where models with cropped red hair, pale skin and punched cowboy boots were pinioned in every form of corsetry; in one case from head to toe in flailed brown leather. Elements of corsetry took over jackets, dungarees and dresses and in one case provided anchorage for fluffy skirts of dusty pink chiffon. Orange, peach and brown were occasionally enlivened by lime green, a popular colour on the Paris catwalks this season.

Even pinafores and pleated skirts had corset motifs, and billowing silk parkas didn't escape laces and suspenders. It may have been more cheek than chic, more racy than risqué, but that's Gaultier's unconstrained spirit.