City of Light awash in gloomy palette

A model wears a creation by Kris Van Assche. Photo / AP

PARIS - The City of Light has gone dark.

Black dominated the first day of Paris' Autumn 2009-Winter 2010 pret-a-porter collections, as designer after designer sent out midnight-hued displays.

Belgium's Kris Van Assche delivered a collection as inky as the desert skies that inspired it, while British enfant terrible Gareth Pugh remained true to his gothic roots with a sombre display of leathers and vinyls.

Portugal's Fatima Lopes also bet on black leather, though she vamped hers up with splashes of immaculate white lace and fire-engine red wool.

Martine Sitbon, the French designer behind the Rue du Mail label, also sent out a smattering of ecru and pink looks in a largely black collection showcasing luxury fabrics.

Still, the designers insisted the omnipresence of the dusky palette was not a reflection on the gloomy economic situation.

"We had had colour but we edited it out," said Van Assche.

"The message was just stronger that way."

KRIS VAN ASSCHE

For Van Assche, winter is more about covering up - and revealing - than keeping warm. The designer looked toward the Sahara Desert for inspiration, and the caftan, a North African garment whose flowing lines shroud women's bodies and protect against scorching temperatures, was the show's star piece.

In dark-hued diaphanous silks, one with a black-on-black snakeskin pattern, the caftans flirted with transparency. As the models moved, their bodies showed through the thin material, which was sometimes layered over razor-cut flannel trousers or paired with rows of chunky metallic necklaces.

"It's about the world's deserts, in Morocco, Peru and Africa," Van Assche told The Associated Press in a backstage interview.

Balloon-cut safari trousers were tucked into lace-up booties with towering heels that would have made for a nightmarish trek in the sands of the Sahara.

A sheer silk button-down shirt with opaque pockets placed strategically over the bust was tucked neatly into pants cut wide through the seat and hips and tapered tightly through the calf.

Blazers, vests and trench coats dispensed with buttons, wrapping around the waist in generous, haphazard folds.

Virtually the whole collection was black - right down to the models' foreheads, which looked like they'd been smeared with charcoal from the remains of a roaring desert campfire.

GARETH PUGH

The London-based designer said Gypsy women, with their flowing skirts and layered sweaters, inspired the collection, which played with volume while remaining true to Pugh's gothic sensibility.

"You have the femininity, but it's quite hard," said Pugh, his pale blue eyes and blond fringe contrasting with his black leather jacket and patent boots, covered in S&M straps.

Some of the strongest pieces in the collection - which was shown in video - were a dress, shirt and jacket that appeared to be channelling a hard-core hedgehog.

In second-skin black leather, the garments were covered with nubby metal spikes that created a tough but strangely compelling silhouette.

A turtleneck in black mesh eviscerated by vertical stripes down the chest and arms was paired with a floor-length skirt with fan-like pleats - an apparent ode to Gypsy daywear.

Other big-volume pieces included swingy A-line coats in lame and vinyl and leather jackets with balloon hemlines.

Pugh explained he'd chosen a video presentation over a traditional runway show to better show off the volumes.

"With a catwalk show, you can't inflate the clothes," he said, adding the choice had nothing to do with budgetary concerns.

"The clothes weren't going, 'Put me on a catwalk'. They were like, "Film me', so I did."

FATIMA LOPES

Lopes cited icons of the Virgin Mary as the inspiration for her fall-winter ready-to-wear collection shown on Wednesday, but it's hard to imagine the mother of God donning second-skin leggings or a breast-baring cocktail dress.

Buttock-skimming sheath dresses in peek-a-boo cut-out lace and diaphanous, shimmering baby-doll frocks would likely prove a similarly tough sell.

Indeed, beyond the headgear - clusters of black roses and pointy sticks that resembled a halo - it was hard to pinpoint the Virgin Mary's influence on the show, as touted in the collection notes.

The 1980s power woman, with her aggressive shoulders and lipstick red fabrics, was a more obvious presence on Lopes' runway. A skirt suit with a plunging V neckline on the jacket and an inverted-V hemline on the skirt screamed Thierry Mugler, the French designer who gave the world the ladies' power suit.

Other standout pieces included red toreador pants with embellished poufs at the hips and the show's opening look, an abbreviated cocktail dress with cute cap sleeves in fire-engine red crocodile.

That, like most looks, was worn over painted-on leggings with vertiginously high dominatrix heels.

Still, Lopes proved the looks were wearable. The designer donned the black leggings and heels and a short red lace dress of her own design for her victory lap, flanked by three models who towered over her.

RUE DU MAIL

Undaunted by the generalised economic gloom and doom, Sitbon sent out corseted sleeveless dresses and asymmetrical skirt and pant suits that mixed and matched sumptuous materials to create what she called a "cabaret" look.

"I didn't do a princess" luxury, Sitbon said in a backstage interview, but rather a sophisticated collection "for a girl who wants to go out."

Just such a girl, French model Audrey Marnay, hailed the collection as "superb" and said she couldn't wait to get her hands on a slinky asymmetrical number with a single sequinned sleeve.

Sequins were one of several sumptuous fabrics that Sitbon piled on the collection in layer after luxurious layer.

Paillettes dolled up the oversized collars of swingy coats in nubby woollen boucle and cascaded over a sheath dress, shimmering like scales.

Velvet panels competed with strips of lame and printed silk for attention on the scores of tulip bustier dresses that dominated the show. Elaborate sunpleats and asymmetrical cuts also cried out for attention, turning the dresses into a real eyeful.

It was a shame that many of them fitted awkwardly, standing stiffly away from the models' bodies and refusing to hug their curves.

No amount of busy panelling, no matter how rich, could fix that.

- AP