US designer Ralph Rucci, in his second Paris haute couture season, yesterday unveiled a collection for next summer that was high on elegance, fine tailoring and clean lines.
Presenting his catwalk show in an opulent mansion now home to the Romanian embassy - a much-coveted space also used by Givenchy this week - Rucci's crisp silk suits and flowing gowns oozed understated grace.
His colour palette is muted, ranging from white and ecru to taupe and mocha, with a few glimmers of silver thrown into the mix, but always in luxurious fabrics - cashmere, buttery leather or silk gabardine.
The beauty of the collection was in the details - delicate lace peeking out from underneath a linen blouse, impeccable hand-stitching on suits and blouses, or intricate embroidery on short full skirts.
For evening, Rucci offered handpainted silks, mainly inspired by his own artwork, or spiralling, wrapped taffeta in five muted metallic hues from silver to bronze to rust, and trailing to the floor in a tiny fringed hem.
A taupe silk gazaar floor-length dress began with a strapless finely feathered bodice and finished with the same feathers just visible underneath the voluminous skirt.
Rucci, invited by the ultra-selective Paris fashion federation to display his work during haute couture week, allowed himself the luxury of adding jeans to his collection, in ecru lambskin or blue denim bleached nearly white.
Backpacks are the must-have accessory of the season, whether in white lambskin, stone alligator leather or ivory satin.
Rucci is the first American to show couture in Paris since Mainbocher, who opened his Paris fashion house in 1929 and was also known for making evening wear geared toward high-class women with an unlimited budget.
The US designer's models were of all ages, in a veiled nod to his well-heeled clientele, underscoring the fact that one need not be 20 and waifish to look good and dress stylishly.
Lebanon's Zuhair Murad, part of a crop of young Beirut-based designers led by Elie Saab, presented a bevy of bejewelled odalisques draped in bright silks, flowing tulle and embroidered lace.
Full silk pants paired with transparent tunics or a painted chiffon caftan evoked images of harems in the Orient, but also seemed well-suited for a night of chic clubbing in Paris or Ibiza.
The 30-year-old Murad stunned the crowd with his final bridal gown - miles of ecru tulle embroidered with gold and copper thread, and encrusted with 85 pearls, 2,500 diamonds and a giant topaz suspended in a central round cut-out.
For those for whom money is no object, the pear-shaped topaz can be replaced with a heart-shaped diamond - for an extra million dollars.
Yesterday marked the end of haute couture week in the French capital, but men's designers were preparing to take centre stage from today, with their collections for autumn-winter
- (AFP)