Young journalist NICOLA MOULTON goes on her=20 first fashion assignment to the Paris shows
THE great and good of the fashion world are=20 gathered in Paris to cast an expert eye=20 over the spring haute couture collections.=20 The format goes roughly like this: everyone=20 turns up at a swanky hotel at specified=20 times and waits for something to happen. If=20 there is atmospheric music, so much the=20 better.=20
Next, the lights go down and the world’s=20 most beautiful model girls appear. They=20 walk to the end of the runway, then they go=20 back again. They appear again a few moments=20 later in different clothes. Half an hour=20 later, the designer appears to rapturous=20 applause. Then everyone leaves and tries to=20 find a taxi. It may or may not be raining.=20 Apart from that, it is worth mentioning=20 that it is all quite fab and I am having a=20 brilliant time.
The first show of the week was Versace. It=20 was incredibly crowded and the only course=20 of action was to fight your way through. In=20 the words of Gloria Gaynor: first I was=20 afraid, I was petrified. But if you cannot=20 see the clothes, you may as well not be=20 there, so it is head down, elbows out and=20 do not come up for air until you hit the=20 catwalk. Naturally there were those far=20 more au fait than I. A woman in front swung=20 round so quickly that I feared certain=20 concussion by Prada handbag. I moved to one=20 side and as I did, she dived into my place=20 to make room for her friend.
At Lapidus, I tried a new tactic and waited=20 on the steps leading down to the gallery=20 until a few moments before the show. A=20 swarthy security man spoke to me in rapid=20 and disapproving French. I pretended not to=20 have understood and stared blankly back. He=20 spoke again. I stared. He spoke. I stared.=20 Then he stared.
I scurried off in fear and spent the show=20 standing behind a man at least eight feet=20 tall. Now I have learnt to use my own lack=20 of height to my advantage and crawl=20 underneath camera tripods wherever=20 possible.
Once in position, there is plenty of=20 opportunity to survey the audience. In some=20 cases, that proves as interesting as the=20 show. Celebrity-spotting is obligatory,=20 though quite difficult. Elton John at=20 Gaultier was a definite, though I was=20 particularly worried by the appearance at=20 the Dior show of Sarah Ferguson, who is=20 apparently in Paris to interview John=20 Galliano. Perhaps she could combine all her=20 literary efforts and ask him to create a=20 new look for Budgie The Helicopter.
Everyone is desperately chic.
I have never seen so many people wearing=20 black. I started to think I had wandered=20 into a gathering of extras from the funeral=20 scene in Evita. Sundry actresses and model=20 girls were to be spotted, as well as the=20 middle-aged brigade – fantastically rich=20 and expansive women who moved in packs from=20 show to show. They are all face-lifted to=20 such an extent that you cannot tell them=20 apart, but you can hear them coming by the=20 rattle and hum of enormous jewels.
The way some of the shows were timetabled=20 meant that some designers went without a=20 contingent of seasoned professionals on the=20 catwalk. On Monday, for example, the Dior=20 show included Nadja, Naomi, Claudia, Kirsty=20 et al. Ungaro, a few hours earlier, was=20 notable for its display of very young and=20 slightly nervous girls. A couple of them=20 even trembled. It was not nice to see and=20 it undermined the whole philosophy of haute=20 couture. You need confidence to wear such=20 clothes. They are hand-made from the finest=20 materials and embroidered with real jewels.
They are staggeringly dear and incredibly=20 beautiful. Couture is often seen at best as=20 slightly irrelevant and at worst as=20 howlingly insane.
But I have seen things I would give=20 anything to wear.
For me, as for most people, the irrelevance=20 is largely due to cost, so it seems=20 slightly paradoxical that girls so young=20 show them being worn when older women are=20 so much more likely to have money to buy=20 them. Some of those girls scarcely looked=20 old enough to be out of school uniform, let=20 alone wearing clothes like this.
I wanted to lend them my jeans.
So respect goes to Jean Paul Gaultier not=20 only for his jewel-encrusted denim but for=20 his use of both very young and very old=20 model girls. His collection showed fashion=20 is not about being young; it is about being=20 confident. And a good thing too, because=20 Monsieur Gaultier is going to be denied the=20 privilege of furnishing my wardrobe for a=20 few years yet. Can you be too old to wear=20 haute couture?