WOMEN FASHION designers showed their power in Paris yesterday, notably 35-year-old Alessandra Facchinetti making her debut in the Palais de Chaillot as creative director of Valentino.
All eyes were on this Italian charged with the daunting responsibility of taking over from the legendary Valentino Garavani, who retired with singular fanfare after a glittering 45-year career last month.
In the event this was a lovely and well-balanced collection with that assured mix of elegant tailoring and flou that characterised Valentino's approach but refreshed with a modern feminine spirit and lightness of touch. "The difference between a man and a woman designer is that a woman can try on something she designs immediately," Facchinetti, dressed in one of her own chic catwalk creations, said backstage after the show.
For every sculpted suit fluted or curved at the back for flare and swing, there was a romantic dress in a froth of lace that was never too fluffy or excessive. Skirts were short and fitted with front gathers, and details like rectangular buckled belts or enamelled buttons were quiet but effective accessories. These were not clothes for extravagant lifestyles, but, like a sleek, grey, city dress or a soft, grey, military-style coat, carried unmistakable upmarket urban polish.
Facchinetti also showed she can cut the red-carpet numbers as well as her illustrious predecessor, with dreamy black or peachy chiffon evening gowns, including one in slim folds of red organza that swished open and closed alluringly. Irish buyers, take note. Pronto!
Stella McCartney dedicated her show to "everyone who believes you do not need fur in fashion", emulating fur's chunky textures in luxuriant, woolly, cocooned, shaped coats made of felted-grey merino. There's always an element of sexiness and playfulness in McCartney's approach, expressed in long grey dresses with cut-out broderie anglaise, and little crochet minis, but there was a new formality in the stiff, bell-skirted suits and strapless dresses in silvered wool, a departure from her usual breezy silhouette.
Heraldic crests and striped, blanket-style tunics were a new take on familiar British motifs, but a dazzling dress composed of dense silver chains was strictly rock 'n' roll.