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See-through clothes and bad taste: Paris fashion week hits

AFP
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See-through clothes and bad taste: Paris fashion week hits
A model presents a creation by Stella McCartney in Paris. Photo: AFP

As a hugely eventful Paris fashion week -- overshadowed by the robbery of $10 million of Kim Kardashian's jewellery -- comes to an end on Wednesday, here is a summary sum up on the big catwalk trends.

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Shiny happy people
   
OK, models do not smile, or almost never do. But Paris catwalks have been shimmering with all that glitters. Shiny vinyl fabrics made a striking comeback, from jackets and skirts to tight 1980s-inspired off the shoulder tops at Mugler, Kenzo and beyond. And on Wednesday Louis Vuitton's Nicolas Ghesquiere followed Dior and Lanvin to give his rock-lux look a gold and silver gleam.
 
A model presents a creation for Kenzo in Paris. 
 
Get your underwear out
   
Remember to check your underwear before you go out next summer. Because that is what people will be seeing. Fashion has never been quite so transparent. Rare were designers who didn't include at least one or two see-through dresses or tops in their Paris collections.
   
And the vast majority of sheer black tops and "Belle de Jour" tulle dresses were worn without bras on the catwalk.
   
But the strongest underwear to outerwear trend was the almost universal profusion of lingerie dresses, reaching even the heights of Chanel, where they ran through almost the entire collection.
  
Lanvin and Agnes b added another layer with their silky pyjama suits, as if to say, "It's summer, why get dressed at all..."
 
A model presents a creation for John Galliano.
 
Bad taste is in
   
In a week in which she has lost much of her bling, Kim Kardashian can at least take comfort from the fact that Paris designers seem to embracing something of her sense of style.
   
Saint Laurent's Vaccarello admitted he was flirting with a bit of flashy "bad taste" -- stilettos with the letters YSL forming the heels and mono-boob dresses for women who like to make entrances and headlines.
   
Kardashian is a big supporter Vetements' Demna Gvasalia -- who questions the idea of classic, tasteful style -- and she was wearing his Balenciaga designs the night she was robbed.
  
Dior unashamedly slapped its "J'adore Dior" slogan on shoulder straps and belts and even the straps of its sandals (that buyers reckon will be a big seller). And Chanel matched its baseball caps with chunky rapper bling diamond jewellery. Nothing tacky mind.
   
Kanye West could do worse if he wants to put the glint back in his wife's eye.
 
 
Empires strikes back 
 
Paris has always been the capital of chic, but for the past few seasons it has also been ground zero of cool. A band of young rebel iconoclastic labels led by Gvasalia's Vetements, Y Project, Jacquemus and Koche have shaken up the old order with Young Turks also taking over a handful of old houses from Nina Ricci to Paco Rabanne.
   
But this week the establishment struck back, hogging the headlines with new creative directors at Dior, Saint Laurent, Lanvin and Leonard. While neither Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior nor Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent are revolutionaries, there is a edgy energy in their spring-summer collections that promises the old stagers could surprise us yet.
 
 
A model presents a creation for Lanvin.   
 
In the pink
   
Some parents of young girls may be running a campaign claiming it "stinks" yet pink was in full blush on the runways. Chanel, Valentino and Nina Ricci gloried in its iridescence while pale ivory pinks ran through the strong trend for lingerie dresses. Celine, oft-copied in high street stores, was not afraid to use it either, cutting its edgy oversized feel with two toga dresses.
   
The summer's other big stand-out colour -- and here's something to tweet about -- is canary yellow. Just remember your sunglasses for health and safety.
 
A model presents a creation by Céline.

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