A RECURRENT feature emerging at the Paris collections for spring is the use of pleating, particularly in lightweight fabrics.
A woman of fashion next season may incorporate it as a simple concertina flourish on a sleeve, or as an intrinsic part of a dress or jacket for daywear.
Yesterday Swiss firm Akris, increasingly gaining a reputation for fashion as well as textile innovation, showed how pleating could define an entire collection.
In earthy colours inspired by a Scottish woodland garden, designer Albert Kriemler sent out sheaths with Art Deco-style "step" pleated fronts, sheer tulle tops with pleated insets, and closefitting shantung coats with apron or rear panels of pleats.
Unfussy, linear-cut suits and wrap dresses hemmed with nude tulle captured the simplicity and freshness of a collection with commercial and aesthetic appeal.
According to Helen Lambert, chief executive of Aga, which chaperones foreign buyers in Paris, there were fewer US buyers this season and they were more cautious in their spending. "They will continue to buy luxury, but they are looking for the wow factor and something special," she said.
Hong Kong designer Andrew Gn delivered on both of these fronts and his show yesterday seemed in many ways more about jewellery than clothes. Gold and silver brocade coats, white wool tunics heavy with coral beads, and kaftans with lavish bib necklaces were examples of blatant luxury.
Even stiletto heels glittered with black crystals. A finale of 14 handpleated silk and chiffon gowns with jade, jasper, lapis and amethyst decor closed a show that needed no decoding.
At the Dries Van Noten show, the use of gold and silver exposed a new high-voltage approach from a designer more associated with giving ethnic dresses a modern twist. Horizontal black-and-white stripes and chequerboard patterns also added an uncharacteristic graphic element to his collection.
Shapes were simple and languid, but sprays of gold and white sequins illuminated a black silk blazer or crisp white shirt, while silk dresses came in rainbow colours. Even shorts looked more upscale in gold and black brocade, while thick gold necklaces provided strong focal points on black silk suits.
It all added up to a shinier presentation than usual, and the models' severe black turbans failed to diminish the radiant light of a coat in honeycombed silver at the finale.