Paris Fashion Week:One of fashion's grand maestros sent forth his last ready-to-wear collection in Paris yesterday to a standing ovation and a volley of tributes.
Since Valentino founded his company in Rome 45 years ago, he has dressed everybody from Jackie Kennedy to Cate Blanchett and is famous not only for his stunning dresses for the red carpet, but his own extravagant lifestyle.
His label is now owned by Permira, Europe's largest private equity company which intends to install a younger designer when Valentino retires after his final haute couture collection next year.
Yesterday's show was proof that age - he is 75 this year - has certainly not withered his hand or lessened his power. It was quintessential Valentino, all luxury and bravura detail, from classy little suits edged with black patent to flirty polka dot dresses and perfect blonde silk shifts.
Even a strapless, spotted jumpsuit managed to look chic, and there were enough goddess gowns in rainbow colours to furnish a Hollywood epic.
If Valentino has a successor, Andrew Gn brings a similar sensibility and opulence to his collections. Many of his couture details were comparable to those of Valentino, like the handcrafted ruffles on a long red gown or on the cuffs of a trim city suit.
A recurrent butterfly motif settled on everything from a chocolate linen coat to a long white chiffon dress. "The Russians love all this stuff," confided a leading British buyer afterwards.
There's nothing glitzy or glamorous about Anne de Meulemeester, the Belgian designer with devoted following in Havana in Dublin for her strong, sexy and sometimes severe monochrome clothes.
There's always a masculine edge to her collections, with familiar details like waistcoats and shirts layered in new ways or twisted into sharper shapes, but carried out with authority and femininity. Graphic black and white stripes enlivened the show, as did some dramatic cock feather plumage.
But the best collection yesterday was that of Dries Van Noten, held in the cavernous depths of the Grand Palais to the accompaniment of the Bamboo Orchestra of Marseilles. It was colourful and romantic, but above all, utterly summery in spirit.
Drawing inspiration from the traditional ethnic patterns and batiks of Bali, he mixed exotic silk florals with computerised prints, blended trench coats with sarongs with such ease and lightness of touch that even a mac in grey gazar looked alluring, and a silver coat of ceremonial splendour was a breathtaking pièce de résistance.
