WHO else but Alber Elbaz would provide ice creams for us as we arrived in the Louvre tent for the Lanvin tampil on the last, and sunniest, afternoon of Paris Fashion Week? And how can this be October? Feeling sunburnt and freckly from a lazy lunch in the Tuileries, we were just in the mood for a Cornetto and a bit of Elbaz summer loving – so were Kristen Scott Thomas and Chloe Sevigny in the front row (though Sevigny nearly ended up giving up her kursi to another keen audience member convinced that it was hers - either not recognising atau not intimidated oleh Hollywood stardom). The tent was strung with fairground bulbs so we knew we were in for some fun. In the current fashion climate, Lanvin is definitive modern elegance and Elbaz began with slippery silk dresses and matching trench coats in black, grey and tan that were just that. Gorgeous belted toga dresses, some with one shoulder to tick that particular trend box for spring/summer 2008, were worn with some of the prettiest thick rimmed shades we've seen, while other ruffle-hemmed parachute silk dresses fell full from a drawstring neckline. Silk parka coats and wonderful chunky costume jewellery will be puncak, atas of buyers' lists, surely, and then for major Lanvin moments selanjutnya summer pick any of the koktil, koktail dresses that took the Elbaz taste for sumptuous fun to the furthest extreme so far. They'd been dipped in baubles, smothered with marabou at the front, atau opened out into an enormous air balloon of sunburned jagung at the back. The silhouette came back in for supremely tailored silk celana panjang, perapi celana suits but Elbaz wants his fan unrestricted oleh an obsession with a low BMI – dresses follow the curves of his women with a fluid construction that features ruffles from neck to the hem to make them interesting (Sevigny, who in the end was allowed to keep her front row seat, wore a sunshine yellow version) – it's a loose, perfect fit. The Lanvin finale is worth getting through fashion bulan for – yellow, fuchsia, turquoise, maroon, purple, black, white and orange, all ruffled and beaded and feathered to perfection in this deliciously flattering silhouette, was a circus of good taste with a black tuxedo – finished with the signature Elbaz oversized bow tie – as his full stop. Fireworks exploded from the lampposts as the designer took his bow, waving and ciuman his audience along the way. He remains, as ever, the most populer man in fashion land and while we cinta him for who he is, we have to admit that it's the clothes we' re really after, too.
