Theatre looms large in Paris fashion shows

PARIS - Birdsong sounds over a catwalk. Church bells chime near another. Models with fruits and flowers in their hair stride over straw as if on a Sunday stroll through the countryside.

Long gone are the days when mannequins simply paraded up and down. Spectators at the current crop of Paris summer ready-to-wear shows often feel they are part of a elaborately staged extravaganza.

No wonder, as theater is a major inspiration for many of today's most acclaimed creative heads in fashion.

French designer Christian Lacroix, who has drawn and created costumes for plays and operas such as Georges Bizet's "Carmen," sent out his models from behind a netted curtain of butterflies, leaves and flowers in his show on Friday.

Models wearing colourful headscarves paraded on a runway covered in bright yellow sand, presenting swinging flowery dresses or tight black skirts with asymmetric white lines.

Lacroix seemed happy and full of energy after he was dumped by luxury group LVMH in January and has started to work with new U.S. owner Falic Group.

"My fear was that people expected radical change because of the new contract. But no," Lacroix told reporters after the show, adding his new collection was sourced in the same spirit he had been working in for years.

Lacroix hailed the wearability of his collection, which featured colourful African prints and basket-shaped straw bags, with sparkling tags attached to them.

"Ready-to-wear -- that means 'ready to wear'," Lacroix said. "Some people are doing couture during ready-to-wear (fashion week), others are putting up performances, we just come here with our little flowers," he said smiling.

Theater of dreams?

Swedish designer Lars Nilsson took spectators straight to a real theater -- Paris's Theater National de Chaillot near the Eiffel Tower -- for his show for Nina Ricci on Saturday.

Models presented blue-and-white striped minidresses with crossed straps on the back, and displayed short ballooning skirts to straight cut jackets.

"It's a very feminine collection," Nilsson said after the show, adding he wanted to dress the international woman.

"She loves fashion, she is traveling. She wants something that is very special, maybe a bit French and Parisian," he said.

British designer Alexander McQueen, who worked for theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans before studying fashion design in London, turned his models into pawns in a human chess game in his show last year.

This season's setting was tamer. Birdsong turned into loud rock music when models in sleek black minidresses with big sparkling belts paraded in a former printing house late on Friday.

Robert Burke, senior fashion director at luxury retailer Bergdorf Goodman, said it was important designers expressed themselves during their shows.

"Their personality is shown through their clothing as well as the setting. It's part of the creative process. I think certain people can show in very simple venues and certain people aren't inspired by that," Burke said.

- REUTERS