Paris couture blooms with colorful gowns from Dior

Paris was in full bloom on Monday, as Christian Dior designer John Galliano opened the city's fall-winter 2011 haute couture collections with a hothouse of petal-covered gowns and tulip shaped skirts in a riot of colors.
A marvel of technical know-how and unbounded creativity, Galliano's garden was a sort of haute couture manifesto that put on very ostentatious display the raison d'etre behind the collections of wildly expensive, made-to-measure garments that only a handful of women in the world can afford. As the number of houses that still produce couture continues to dwindle -- with smaller labels that are unable to shoulder the cost not fielding collections this season -- the Dior show was a riotous celebration of what couture, at its best, can be.

Bouchra Jarrar delivered clean-lined looks in blue, black and ecru for her second couture collection under her signature label. Where Dior was an explosion, Jarrar was all self-restraint and rigor -- but her elegance and precision were no less couture than Dior's creative catharsis.Another emerging French designer, Christophe Josse, looked to the long, lean silhouettes of the early 19th century for inspiration, delivering a nuanced collection in dusty-hued silks, velvets, astrakhan and feathers. Like at Jarrar, there was nary a sequin in sight.
Lebanon's Georges Chakra made up for that, pouring pounds (kilograms) of sparkles onto red-carpet-ready gowns in glimmering metallic fabrics.. then you might not have a clue about current fashion trends.fashion accessories

At Adeline Andre, technicians in white lab coats peeled layer after onion-like layer off one model, assembling what the carrot-topped designer called "suspension dresses" -- something like multicolored silk nighties with abbreviated silk panels like midriff tops held at varying lengths by extra-long spaghetti straps -- onto other models. Held in a two-room gallery in central Paris, the bare-bones show-cum-performance piece was at the opposite end of the spectrum from big-budget extravaganzas like Dior's.. The idea that a small Necklace is dangerous to patients is at best absurd. But what it lacked in financial punch, the Andre show made up for it heart.

For his capsule collection -- shown on mannequins during a presentation at Paris pastry house Angelique -- Alexis Mabille looked to the south of France, showing about half a dozen lace-heavy looks soaked in the primary colors and Catholic culture of Provence. The hottest of the sun-baked looks included a skirtsuit in torero red lace and a feminine tuxedo with a pretty pink shirt.. Generally, women today have at least three handbags to carry, depending on their outfit.womens accessoriesAt the end of Day One, the fashion glitteratti migrated to the Chanel Jewelry boutique at the nearby Place Vendome, where Russian ballerina dancers minced about among the glass-topped display cases as the Champagne-downing,The chanel jewelry is one of the hottest brands among the Hollywood elite. blini-chomping crowd looked on.