The world of haute couture has had a rough ride over the past few years, with designers retiring (one forcibly), ateliers closing, and one of the worst economic slumps in decades reducing clientele, so it is refreshing to bring good news from the recent couture week in Paris.
Atelier Versace is back after an eight-year hiatus. Giambattista Valli has been elevated to full haute couture status by the Federation Francaise de la Couture after one season (the fast-tracking a result of his record at Ungaro). A fledgling Chinese-born, French-trained talent, Yiqing Yin, made her couture debut, and her sensuous draped jersey dresses in lustrous shades of metal and intriguing organic-inspired looks in gauzy fabrics and fur suggest she is a name to watch.
As for demand, excluding those from the oil-rich countries, it is the new influx of clients from the BRICS nations that is giving the couturiers reason for hope.
There were pretty day dresses at Christian Dior in organdie and in polka dots and petal appliques at Giambattista Valli, and tailoring appeared in the pinstriped suits of Gaultier, the slim tweed dresses and jackets at Chanel and the sculpted jackets of Armani Prive. However, modern haute couture is all about eveningwear - even the king of the easy jacket created something so taut and shiny whether in gilded croc or a mesh-like fabric resembling serpent scales that it could be only for nightwear.
Armani's spring collection, called Metamorphosis, had a slithery reptilian theme, from coiled snake prints on ball skirts to venomous green dresses and sulphurous yellow tailoring, while skirts were designed to look like a chrysalis from which a butterfly emerges. It was a strangely dark theme for Armani to pick and actress Jessica Chastain, sitting in the front row, nailed it: 'I always like the elegance, but what I liked about this was that it had a bit of an edge.'
Nevertheless, she was tight-lipped about what she would choose for the Academy Awards. News of her nomination for Best Supporting Actress in The Help came through just as the show was about to start, and there were whoops of joy from fellow front-rower Cameron Diaz.