Paris designers send out raw and sexy looks in abbreviated leather, dazzling rhinestones

Paris keeps it raw and sexy with short hemlines

PARIS — Galdiatrixes in minidresses that looked like they were made from the skins of freshly vanquished crocodiles and models that scintillated like human disco balls had the run of Paris’ catwalks on Thursday as the City of Light’s spring-summer 2010 collections moved into day two.

Balmain, whose peaked shouldered jackets and minuscule second-skin dresses have made it the It Brand for jet-setting party girls, continued to deliver the goods, sending out peaked-shouldered jackets and minidresses in ragged-hemmed, cave girl leathers or warrior chain mail — much of it shorn of the usual sprinkling of rhinestones.

Not to worry, though: Even without the Swarovski crystals, the Balmain woman still shines. She just left the serious glittering to fans of rising Indian star Manish Arora.

His models strutted their high-voltage, rhinestone-covered stuff on the stage of Paris’ notorious Crazy Horse cabaret in a show that was every bit as thrilling — if a tad less salacious — than the strip teases usually on offer at “le Crazy,” as it’s often called here.

In keeping with the high hemlines at Balmain and Arora, Belgian-born designer Bruno Pieters served up tiny bustier dresses in translucent microfiber that recalled pantyhose. His compatriots, design duo A.F. Vandevorst, riffed on the stocking theme, layering them over romantically draped silk trousers to create sensuous, if a tad bizarre, safari wear.

Japanese designer Hiroko Koshino took out her magnifying glass, fielding a collection that used fabrics whose improbable color combinations and swirling motifs were inspired by close-ups of insects’ wings. Koshino, who is at the head of a retail empire of more than 200 boutiques in Japan, delivered pretty dresses in yellow, green and blue satin bodices with intricate, origami folds and fluttering, printed chiffon skirts.

Paris’ nine-day-long ready-to-wear displays move into day three on Friday with shows by Japanese designers Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, Paris-based critical favorite Lanvin, Britain’s wacky Vivienne Westwood and luxury giant Christian Dior.

BALMAIN

Designer Christophe Decarnin delivered a sexier, more savage variation on his hit, pointy-shouldered, raised-hemline silhouette: He spiced up his hallmark recipe for success with a pinch of victorious lady gladiators — fresh from a vicious battle with lions, tigers and other snaggletoothed beasts — added dash of Raquel Welch cave woman and stirred in a splash of Joan of Arc.

Out went the Swarovski crystals that blanketed Decarnin’s teensy-weensy dresses in seasons past. In came the chainmail, the laced-up leather strips and ragged-hemmed swathes of crocodile. There was also a hint of medieval French heroine Joan of Arc in the minidresses made of elegantly draped chainmail in burnished bronze.

“It was made for Xena, the warrior princess,” said French fashion icon and TV journalist Mademoiselle Agnes.

The pointy-shouldered leather jackets beloved by fashionistas worldwide were given swishy tails and done in drab military versions that looked sure to be next season’s blockbuster.

Top models like Carmen Kass and Isabeli Fontana wore hole-riddled T-shirts that looked like a lion used them as chewing gum and skintight jeans with suggestive claw swipes at the upper thigh. The dresses, which grazed the very top of the models’ thighs, were similarly unforgiving.

“Girls, you better be fit if you want to get into Balmain,” Mademoiselle Agnes said with a devilish grin.

MANISH ARORA

Decarnin must have given the Swarovski crystals he didn’t use to Arora, as the wildly talented New Delhi-based designer certainly needed all he could get his hands on. Crystals, rhinestones, beads and sequins were everywhere, coating the abbreviated dresses, blinking out from pleated skinny pants and dripping off the elaborate space age harnesses that topped off the outfits.

In a nod to the show’s unique setting — it’s not every day you get a fashion show in a legendary burlesque club, after all — Arora’s models wore sparkling masks applied to their foreheads in shapes reminiscent of the bobbed wigs that are the hallmark of Crazy Horse dancers.

Golden chains swung suggestively from models’ hips as they pounded the stage on vertiginous booties. The earsplitting soundtrack shook the walls as the audience of fashion editors and buyers lounged in red velvet chairs.

It was a mad, over-the-top display sure to please Arora’s eccentric A-list clients like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga — full of sex, structure and sparkle, with a dash of Michael Jackson.

“It’s a sort of 2009 version of the 1980s,” Arora told The Associated Press during a preview of the collection. He added that this season he was playing on abstract, geometric patterns rather than the jungle animals and tropical plants themes he’s used in seasons past.

BRUNO PIETERS

Bruno Pieters was keeping it short with his collection of tiny bustier dresses and translucent, structured shorts in a reduced palette of black, white and peach. Pieters — a Belgian who also designs menswear for Hugo, Hugo Boss, the German suit maker’s avant-garde line — sent out dresses with bustier tops that appeared to be made from pantyhose. Others, entirely in sheer microfiber, were worn over what looked like control-top undies.

Some of the strongest looks were sheer high-rise shorts and pants worn with boxy-shouldered jackets with geometrical seam-lines and a funny flat panel rising from the bust up to the models’ chins.

A.F. VANDEVORST

It was all about the strange, almost improbable layering of desert gear to create sexy safari ensembles: Romantically draped button-down shirts in khaki and rust red were worn over stiff lace-up bodices that stood away from the body like a sort of armor and were paired with wide-cut silken trousers that in turn tucked into pantyhose. The stockings were then won over high heels, creating an almost barefoot look.

“We wanted to work on volume, in light fabrics, like the wind, and (work in) the colors of the desert and nylon stocking colors,” An Vandevorst, one half of the design duo behind the label, told reporters backstage.

The models, their hair brushed over to one side, looked like they’d just come out the other side of a gale force wind, and the disheveled layering only underscored that impression.

Still, the collection was a lovely one overall, with standout pieces that included a trench coat that morphed into pants on the bottom to create a Safari-ready coverall.