PARIS FASHION WEEK:"SHE'S SO wearable," said one of the many stylishly-dressed women standing in the sunshine on the steps of the Paris Opera yesterday after Stella McCartney's buoyant spring show in its gilded salons.
The event flushed out a rake of celebrities such as her father Sir Paul, Kate Moss, Diane Keaton, Charlotte Rampling, Salma Hayek and model Natalia Vodianova, star of her winter campaign, making it a field day for the paparazzi.
With sales up 19 per cent and a second Chinese store opening in Beijing in December, the designer’s success is gathering momentum globally and further expansion is planned for next year. The brand is owned by the designer and luxury giant PPR and has 21 standalone stores worldwide and 25 shop-in-shops. Her fragrance L.I.L.Y will launch in the US next week.
This was a clear and confident collection showing McCartney’s modernism and signature ability to blend sharp masculine tailoring with feminine softness. There was a sporty element, too, in the meshed blousons and slouchy trousers for comfortable dressing which is so much part of her appeal. Some suits in black or white had the top-heavy shoulderline of the 1980s, but the painterly abstract silk prints were fresh and breezy and her contoured organza dresses revealed as much as they concealed in playful ways.
Colours were vibrant and accessories such as lucite clutches and platform wedges in neoprene or cotton are bound to be winners.
The Hermès collection in the Jeu de Paume gallery aimed at a world traveller. Scarf prints were the main event, twisted into summery tops or made into blazers and shorts with silver pinned ties. Everything had that thoroughbred Hermès ease including tunics in two-tone or punched grey suede, shirt dresses in white cotton and hoodies in canvas and leather. It was low key and luxurious, but some items jarred, such as a long leather coat with a leather backpack and big patch pockets hanging like builders’ toolbags from city shorts.
THE IRISH IN PARIS
TINA LIGNELL
From Clare Street, Dublin, Lignell left Ireland in October 1990 to work in a small company in Paris after graduating from the College of Marketing Design. Nine months later she landed a job with luggage company Lancel where she worked for nearly four years, later moving on to manage a shop on Rue Royale. A chance meeting with Ungaro's director of communications led to a job heading its PR in Europe and while there she was headhunted for Dior where she became press attaché for its haute couture and prêt-a-porter. After her twins were born, she left Dior and returned to work a few years ago. She now heads the Paris office of London media company Finch Partners. Its clients include fashion designer Alex Mabille who opened a new shop on Rue de Grenelle a few days ago.
CHRIS Ó LORCÁIN
"I love languages and I love working with people", says Ó Lorcáin, who is head of PR at Sonia Rykiel, the French fashion house recently taken over by the luxury Hong Kong investment firm Fung Brands. From Clondalkin, Co Dublin, he did an Erasmus year in Paris while majoring in French at TCD and interned with Kenzo in 2008. During that year and after graduation, the company asked him back to work in its PR department.
Last year an attractive job offer with Rykiel was an opportunity, he says, to "grow his career" and he has been there since, based in its headquarters on the Left Bank. He lives in Republique with his Irish partner.
