Paris As Romantic As Ever

From McQueen to Rochas to Hermes to Paco Rabanne the collections shown on the Paris catwalks were as romantic as ever in the city of lights. Overtly clingy and sexy clothes were replaced by a softer, more romantic silhouette. The result is a confident sense of beautifully draped, light-as-breeze clothes that will have you looking fabulous next season. Chloe, especially, understands how a modern woman wants to dress, and chose ultra-light fabrics, giving volume with pleats, flat layers of ruffles or drapes. The washed silks, tiered skirts and tiny jackets will be on every editors hotlist next season.

Nina Ricci is quickly transforming from an antiquated fashion house to a young woman's wardrobe. Designer Lars Nilsson is eager to entice a new clientele and did all the right things, using moth-wing fabrics, where the sheen of silk or a scattering of sparkle produced lights. A palette that included a juicy orange, gave it the right touch of youthful elegance. John Galiano's theme of "Barbara Hutton goes to Glastonbury" recalled the swinging 60s in psychedelic prints and wacky cartoons. However eccentric, there where some lush clothes, including face-powder pink satin dresses draped in a bow at the front.

Louis Vuitton showed a myriad of colours, with metallic shades exploding on the catwalk. Movie stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Christina Ricci opened the show in a handful of quiet black outfits. The rest was a whirl of circular-patterned skirts with giant peep-hole cutouts, flower prints on hotpants, purple knits and cute crochet bags.

At Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati had the tough task of following in Tom Ford's footsteps. He managed, however, to do things his own way. Opening the show was a short, black-and-white polka-dot raincoat with tulip-curved hemline, cinched by a wide, square-buckled black patent leather belt. Something that Ford would never have done. Said Pilati of his collection: "It's something between the fifties and the eighties-which is my time-but to do it now, with volumes in a different way." Pilati worked under Tom Ford for four years and is also a former designer at Prada.

At Hermes, designer Jean Paul Gaultier showed an even more powerful collection than his first. Taking in all the codes of Hermes' past, he transformed them effortlessly into light-handed modern clothes. Colours included washed sand prints, butterscotch leather and a deep, bright navy. Gaultier said his inspirations were the icons of French chic, from Serge Gainsbourg through Jane Birkin. As Susie Menkes of The Herald Tribune said; "With this beautiful collection, it is possible to imagine that the Gaultier-Hermes partnership might have the endurance of Karl Lagerfeld with Chanel.