Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily@ October 17, 2003 - Paris
The Best of Paris Fashion Week: FWD’s Top-Five Lists
By Karl Treacy
There were a myriad of shows, looks and events in Paris this season, but the best distinguished themselves right away. Herewith, the list:
Best Collections:
Chanel
Viktor & Rolf
Louis Vuitton
Helmut Lang
Alexander McQueen
Best Overall Looks:
-Dior's enormous caramel satin dressing gown erupting with pale sable collar, sleeves and facing (teeny gold bikini optional).
-Lanvin's skirts cut from a single piece of fabric wrapping to bustles and bows at the back.
-YSL Rive Gauche's long, slim leather jacket belted on the hips with white chiffon fluttering to the knees with a touch of '20s-meets-'80s-via-'70s shades and hair.
-Amid all the wonderful flowing dresses at the McQueen show, a gray wool jersey dress with stark white collar stood out for its sheer perfection of cut and movement.
-A mud-colored jersey vest dress at Helmut Lang with a dragonfly wing motif growing gracefully from a shoulder.
Most Coveted Single Items:
-Chanel's trench coat with seams piped in fluffy tweed.
-Viktor & Rolf's Grecian pleats winding around a bared torso, tying at the back and falling seamlessly into integrated pants.
-A surgically cut, slim skirt suit from Balenciaga.
-The glow of candlelight from a Tsumori Chisato "dinner" dress.
-Louis Vuitton tiny gathered satin bag with Swarovski monogram and LV padlock chain handle.
Best Accessories:
-Any of the Louis Vuitton bags. But will we still love them after they've been knocked off ad nauseam? With discretion and diversity as watchwords, the answer will most likely be yes.
-The red shoes from Viktor & Rolf. Heck, their whole show was inspired on the movie of the same name.
-Sexy little two-tone clutches from Dior that play down the glam that tons of diamonds tend to bestow.
-A musical moment from Chanel with slim bags in the form of cassettes and records in clear plastic or patent leather.
-Huge chunky studded cuffs worn in groups of three that brought a dangerous edge to precise-cut dresses at Lagerfeld Gallery.
Best Show Productions:
-Undercover: Scary, demented-looking groups of model twins provided an unsettling yet artful kick-off to the collections.
-Sonia Rykiel: In a perfume-plugging finale, men swept the models off their feet. Two girls managed to dispose of the male factor entirely, to much audience cheering.
-Any Gucci Group-owned house's show: With the intrigue building about the future of Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole at Gucci, eyes were trained on the stoic PPR suits front row as much as on the clothes on the runway.
-Chanel: The huge show space featured an equally long cocktail bar down the middle where the girls lounged, chatted, posed and, in the case of model Natasha Vojnovic, crawled along.
-Alexander McQueen: A dramatic dance to the death in beautiful vintage-inspired gowns brought a sense of desperate romanticism to jolt a jaded fashion crowd.
Can't argue with Helmut, but Vuitton and V&R?
