The Emperor's New Bag

In Milan there was the pink Prada turban. In Paris, the object of my affection and obsession is Chanel's "Naked" shopper. It's a riff on the classic rectangular chain purse, except in clear plastic. And it's 700 Euros, or $950. That's right, $950.

Now I'm not the sharpest stilleto on the rack, but I know that's a lot to pay for something that's "plaaaaastic," as my friend Robin said when I let slip that I had my eye on this invisible "It" bag. But I've intellectualized it. That Karl, so clever -- knocking himself off before someone else can, ever cogniscent that fashion is disposable, but it's what's on the inside that is really worth showing -- even if that is a Louis Vuitton pink Vernis wallet, Miu Miu sunglasses and a Chanel Glossimer. Any serious collector would buy into the irony, right? It's just too delicious.

Here's to you, Monsieur Poiret

There's nothing like a little caviar and couture in the morning. Vogue magazine and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute hosted a meet-and-greet today at the Art Deco jewel of a restaurant Prunier to introduce their big spring exhibit. "Poiret: King of Fashion," which opens May 9, addresses one of history's most important fashion innovators, Paul Poiret, who opened his couture house in 1903. Poiret is famous for liberating women from corsets by making columnar chemises and coats fashionable, only to restrict their gaits when he invented the hobble skirt. He brought Orientalism into fashion, incorporating rich colors, fabrics, jewelery and fur trim into his work. He was also the first fashion designer to create and market his own perfume in 1911.

The exhibit will be organized into vignettes that highlight creative themes of Poiret's work, including his use of draped, unstructured fabrics, his interest in the Wiener Werkstatte and the Ballets Russes, his collaborations with such artists as Paul Iribe, Georges Barbier and George Lepape, all complimented by paintings, illustrations and furniture. The core of the exhibition will be pieces the museum acquired during the 2005 auction of clothing from Poiret's estate. Several of those garments were made for and worn by Poiret's wife and muse,  Denise.

Naked Runway

Dries Van Noten peeled away some of the mystery of the fashion show process on Wednesday when he gave us a behind the scenes view of his backstage. Guests sat on one side of the runway, watching the action through a scrim on the other. There were the makeup artists, models, house photographers, the show producer and the designer himself scurrying around preparing for the show.

It went a long way toward alleviating the boredom one falls into waiting a half hour to an hour for shows to start. You'd think some of these designers would take a page from the Hollywood playbook and provide an opening act, some kind of bad comedian (he could tell fashion jokes) like the ones who warm up audiences for live TV shows.

Meet the Paris Avant-Garde

The first couple of days at the Paris fashion shows are always a thrill. It's like we've slogged through an entire basketball season, and it's finally tournament time. 

  I am always eager to see what the Japanese designers do, especially Junya Watanabe, whose clothes are available stateside at Barneys and other places. He usually riffs on the motorcycle jacket and the tailcoat, too. But this season, his woman is a romantic rebel in a floral tea dress, worked with lace
ribbons, with a cardigan sweater sewn on top. Then, it was as if Watanabe took the whole dress and spun it on its axis, with a button placket curving around the torso here and a zipper around the back there. The result was enchanting, and so technically precise, you had to wonder how many hours he spent fitting each piece. He showed motorcycle jackets in checked boucle, or black leather, sliced in the back and resewn off-kilter, and leather reefer coats with the same twirled effect as his dresses.

This was not as boundry pushing as some of his collections. It had just a whiff of the avant garde to satisfy die hard fans, but not too much to scare people off. I can even imagine wearing one of those dresses to work with flat boots.