The stuff of dreams

THE Paris catwalks were awash in a sea of chiffon. It was everywhere - draped over perfectly coiffed heads, around slender necks, flung casually over one elegant shoulder, wrapped tightly across the waist-line, held in hand and trailing on the ground as the super-models sensuously made their way down the runway.

The dreamy, diaphanous fabric is pure, pretty and luxurious enough to have shaped the spirit of the haute couture shows which ended on Wednesday. And in presenting their spring/summer 1994 lines, Paris' most renowned couturiers proved that high fashion isstill the stuff that dreams are made of.

The most recent collections will go down in fashion history for a less idealistic reason: they also marked the inauguration of the Carrousel du Louvre where future ready-to-wear shows will be held in place of the cavernous tents in the middle of the Louvre courtyard.

Even so, a number of designers chose to boycott the new venue, insisting it was too bland for the refined flavour of haute couture. Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix and Hubert de Givenchy remained faithful to the more intimate and celebratory ambience of hotel salons, while a small handful presented their collections at their own premises.

In any setting, the haute couture shows - the first major French fashion presentation of the year - are a permanent fixture in the travel diaries of Saudi princesses, American heiresses, international movie-stars and, more recently, a faithful contingent from Latin America and Lebanon. Couture houses trying to woo a client may send her a first-class airline ticket (a front-row seat to the show is included, of course).

And while skeptics within the industry insist that the death of haute couture is just around the corner, many designers have admitted they would rather shut up shop than abandon the prohibitively expensive high fashion arm of the business: a couture suitfor day starts at 40,000 French francs (about HK$30,000). A rhinestone-encrusted lace wedding gown would be well into the six-figure range.