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PARIS - What does a fashion designer do? Make stunning clothes -- among other things.
In the case of Karl Lagerfeld or Christian Lacroix, they also edit books, make theatre costumes, design crockery and the interiors of train carriages.
Lagerfeld proved his multi-tasking skills with a glittering haute couture collection for fashion house Chanel today, winning applause from guests including former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and film director Sofia Coppola.
"I think it's amazing he's doing so many things. I don't know how he does it all," Coppola, the director of Marie Antoinette and Lost in Translation said.
"I think all creative things are linked. So it makes sense to do lots of different things," she told Reuters at the show in the Grand Palais, where models paraded in Lagerfeld's feather-covered skirts and long shimmering dresses.
One girl wore a swinging transparent skirt under a tight suit jacket, held together high at the waist with a shiny belt.
Apart from Chanel, the pony-tailed Lagerfeld also designs for his Karl Lagerfeld label, edits books and has created a one-off line for Swedish high street chain H&M.
However, haute couture has a special place in his schedule.
"(It's) the refinement, the craftsmanship, the patience," Lagerfeld told reporters after his show.
"At the same time, it has to be very modern and very up-to-date. There's a real clientele for this kind of thing today. But what we do has to be the top of refinement and craftsmanship."
Lagerfeld, 68, is among the older guard of designers rolling out his collection in Paris alongside younger designers such as Riccardo Tisci, 32, at Givenchy.
"I think (Lagerfeld) loves what he does," said Hilary Alexander, fashion director at the Daily Telegraph. "He has so much energy and enthusiasm that everything he does is sort of a natural extension of what he's already doing," she said.
Christian Lacroix is another with many jobs besides his main clothes collections. The 55-year-old Frenchman has designed the interiors of high-speed trains and theatre and opera costumes, as well as turning his hand to porcelain and household linen.
Lacroix sent out models in gold-shimmering coats and chiffon dresses with large flowers attached to the chest.
"I feel that we needed something softer in such tough and difficult times like these," the designer said after presenting dresses covered in tiny red flowers and coats held together by sequined shimmering belts.
"We need some poetry and something which lightens up the soul," he said.
- REUTERS
