Paris' Game Of Two Halves

Paris fashion week has come to town and its seems that its not just the clothes that everyone's talking about. With the outrageous behaviour of a fashion genius, Dior dropped their creative director of 15 years, Mr John Galliano. Meanwhile, Dai Fujiwara presented his last collection for Issey Miyake after delivering 5 years worth of outstanding collections. But in the world of showbiz, the show must go on....

As ever, Paris Fashion Week has not disappointed. With a prominent emphasis on the feminine/masculine contrasts, designers brought us hourglass mannequins battling against androgynous draping and boxy jackets. Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo contrasts rouched multicoloured dresses constructed of vintage silk scarves against masculine half blazer-half womens fitted jackets. The collection brings a kind of confusion through the bold asymmetric silhouettes and designs.

This half man-half woman trend was continued over at Junya Wantanabe. He used sculpted leather to re-invent the leather jacket creating strong hour glass silhouettes softened with bell bottomed sleeves. The battle commenced when they where then challenged by boxy two pieces and over sized draping. The predominantly black collection was broken up with the introducion of brown splashes. Biker chic has been given a make over and most definitely slots in perfectly with the grunge trend hitting our wardrobes this coming fall.

On the Uber-Creative side of things Viktor and Rolf filled their catwalk with red-faced models dressed in Middle Aged inspired designs. The felted wool and leather collection mixed sophisticated tailoring with quirky detailing and strong silhouettes. The range of coats are definitely going to be on every girls fashion wish list who are bold enough to wear such a statement piece. The strong detailing courageously takes a new turn for outerwear this fall taking carefully crafted tailoring to a higher level. The Dutch duo proved to us that curves are definitely in this season with yet more emphasis on the hour glass figure nipping in at the waist exaggerated by the pin-wheel-esq detailing placed on the shoulders and full skirts. The collection took a futuristic turn with the designs re-invented in a not overly shiny shade of silver in which the detailing became a little more extravagantly 3D creating a Middle Aged knight in fashion armour. The collection as ever was true to the brands lust for creativity and innovation.

images courtesy of style.com