Paris Fashion Week: At Rochas, quirky chic continues its forward march

From the beginning of his tenure at Rochas, now in its fifth season, designer Marco Zanini has been in touch with the kind of quirky chic that's emerging as a theme for fall. For this collection, he channeled that spirit into a love story between masculine and feminine on the runway, while giving each piece an unexpected twist.

A ladylike navy blue brocade shift came pre-wrinkled, and a deep blue blazer buttoned off-kilter.

Satin print pants and intarsia sweaters had that pretty-ugly look we all know so well from Prada. And for evening, short satin dresses had ruched bra-bodices that, left unfilled, were a throwback to a less surgically enhanced time. Gowns also had a retro modesty, one in  peach satin with a watteau back.

Nearly all of the looks were finished off with an astrakhan karakul cap, which may be the most novel use of fur yet in a very furry runway season. And somehow, the caps looked right in that oddball way that is starting to make sense now that fashion, however incongruous it may sound, is trying to harness individual style.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS: Rochas fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

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Photos: Looks from the Rochas fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

 

Paris Fashion Week: Battle of the boudoirs at Zac Posen, Rochas and Nina Ricci

There's been a boudoir theme in several of the early collections at Paris Fashion Week. But the woman behind the dressing room door has taken vastly different forms.

The desperate mistress:

At Zac Posen's show, his first in Paris, things got off to a strong start with lace insets spiraling around pants legs, a twisted black and white ombre silk dress that appeared as if it had been sprayed on the body, feather boleros and salt and pepper tweed jackets.

But then the Folies Bergere-style details really started to pile on--eye-shaped embroideries, snake-like lace, feathers that looked as if they had been hastily applied. It was the come-on that came on way too strong. 

The mum in need of a makeover:

At Rochas, designer Marco Zanini went the other direction and hit Frumpsville, with 1930s, dropped-waist silk wallpaper floral print gowns and pajama pants, shapeless coats and housedresses, all worn with knee highs and head scarves. Sex appeal? No. An excuse not to shave your legs and wash your hair? Maybe.

The young wife:

Nina Ricci's Peter Copping struck the perfect balance of sexy and sensual, practical and pretty, pairing a black-and-white lace bandage skirt with a simple men's button-down shirt, for example, and sleeveless leather blouse in a print inspired by the house's famous Lalique perfume bottle, with an everyday taupe cotton poplin paperbag waist skirt.

Softly tailored jackets and matching skirts with playful asymmetrical ruffles made for a more feminine spin on the suit. Just the thing to take a woman from lunch with friends, to dinner with her honey--and whatever comes next.

--Booth Moore in Paris

Photos, top: Looks from the Zac Posen Spring-Summer 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Photos, middle: Looks from the Rochas Spring-Summer 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Photos, bottom: Looks from the Nina Ricci Spring-Summer 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Paris Fashion Week: Dries Van Noten opens the week on high note; Rochas and Giles Deacon look back

It was a wonderful start to Paris Fashion Week to see a collection as focused as Dries Van Noten's. The Belgian designer pared down the ethnic embellishment and Ikat prints of spring in favor of something more tailored and military-influenced for fall.

Standout pieces included a herringbone pants suit with darts pinching the waist of the jacket, fantastic utility pants with zippers or straps to cinch and taper them at the ankles, and a military flack jacket with gilded embroidery on the sleeves.

Not forgetting the feminine side of the fall season's masculine/feminine equation, there were also painterly blue floral print satin skirts in full, 1950s silhouettes, and the simplest gold lame dress with 3/4 sleeves that is one of those forever wardrobe building blocks.

Speaking of blocks, the block-heeled pumps looked very fresh in leather, satin, or most intriguingly, tweed.