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Paris designers dazzle with theatrical displays
2007-03-03
Locusts crawl over a giant screen at Alexander McQueen's show, tango dancers swirl over the catwalk at Kenzo, and it snows paper flakes at Chanel. Fashion designers in Paris put on theatrical displays to present their new collections this week, transforming their catwalks into stage sets ranging from iceblocks to ballrooms. At McQueen's witch-themed show late on Friday, models in tight leather trousers and cocoon dresses walked out to the sound of women's screams, following the lines of a red pentagram on the catwalk. At Kenzo on Saturday, designer Antonio Marras sent out models with gaucho-style hats to tango music, tripping around a giant wavy red carpet in the middle of the runway. At the end of the show, which featured ruffled floor-length skirts and bright swinging dresses with large roses, a dozen male tango dancers took to the floor, swinging rag dolls dressed like racy dancing partners across the runway. Marras said fashion and theater were linked. "Fashion is the core around which dance, theater, music, dreams and cinema rotate," the designer of the LVMH-owned label said after the show. "These 10 minutes (of the catwalk show) are the culmination of six months of work," he said. "In these 10 minutes, I have to communicate a very precise message. And to do this, I use all the elements that fascinate me." LOCUSTS AND A-LINES Marras was not the only designer putting a spectacular display. Karl Lagerfeld paraded out models on a runway resembling a block of ice in his show for Chanel on Friday and let snow fall on the girls at the end. McQueen, who worked for theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans before studying fashion design in London, is known for his extravagant displays. In past seasons, he has brought cobweb-covered chandeliers and string quartets to his catwalks or transformed his models into the figures of a human chess game. A year ago, the designer let the image of supermodel Kate Moss emerge in a holographic installation inside a giant glass pyramid. For McQueen, who does not like to give backstage interviews, the reasoning for the spectacular displays is clear. "By creating moments of intense emotion, I have more media coverage than with a simple (advertising) campaign," the designer told French magazine Elle. "They are a vehicle for my fantasies," he added. Friday's show was inspired by a woman executed in the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, who was one of the designer's ancestors, McQueen explained in a family tree placed on fashion editors' seats. Their hair teased-up, models walked out in high-collared A-line dresses and shimmering bustiers worn to floating floor-length skirts. One model sported a skin-tight golden catsuit with an armor-like gold plate covering her chest. A video screen on an inverted pyramid installed over the models' heads displayed naked women with make-up smeared over their faces, followed by swarms of locusts.
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