PARIS, Jun 6, 2003/ FW/ --- Each year in late spring, ceremonies marking the rites of passage take place across the planet. It may be a Baccalaureate Commencement, it may be a wedding or a same-sex commitment, but the event marks the spot where one era ends and another begins. And on those ephemeral occasions, life is so full of promise that the world seems to be brimming with endless opportunity.

The French Federation of Couture celebrates the rite of passage in the fashion world each June with a gala runway show featuring creations of students at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, an event which coincides with the close of the academic year.

Helpfulness can often be a missing element in the very special world of high fashion. Anyone who has experienced it from a professional angle can tell horror stories of inflated journalists, savage press officers, and security guards badly in need of a rabies shot.

Still, despite it all, there are moments when the true spirit of encouragement comes shining through.

Celebrated designer Pierre Cardin sat front row this evening at the Louvre, coming out in balmy Paris weather to support the 44 graduates in competition for the St. Roch Awards. Just last month at Cannes, he was host to a star-studded party at his Riviera home that drew the biggest names in Hollywood, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves.

At age 81, Cardin still drives himself in an emerald Jaguar, and shows little sign of slowing down. His silver curls and impeccable dress, which tonight consisted of a double-breasted suit with a print silk handkerchief standing crisply in the pocket, can easily be spotted in an overflowing crowd.

Clearly enjoying the moment, he spoke with passion before the show. "It's good to come support the young people. I was once young myself you know."

And indeed he was.

When Cardin left Dior in 1950 at age 28 to begin designing in his own name, his clients included Eva Peron, Maria Felix and Rita Hayworth.

Earlier this week, Jean-Paul Gaultier paid homage to Cardin in an interview with Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune saying that his "mentor had allowed him to escape from the dream world of fashion magazines to a studio".

Cardin grew nostalgic when speaking of Gaultier, "he was so young when he worked in my atelier. Just look at him now: he's all grown up!"

Time being what it is, that effect is quite natural.

So, it is all the more important that the French Federation of Couture takes such an avid interest in preparing and training the designers of tomorrow.

The jury of this evening's competition was chaired by Donald Potard, CEO of Jean-Paul Gaultier, and included Jean-Paul Knott, Anne Valérie Hash, Martine Sitbon, Frank Sorbier and Sharon Wauchob.

As part of the four prizes, which went to Makoto Takabatake, Junichi Shinohara, Montserrat Gonzalez and Catherine Piederrière, an internship is offered in a celebrated couture house; this year that encompasses Christian Dior, Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent and DMC, a French textile manufacturer, which also co-sponsored the event.

The young students were given the opportunity to use their creative imagination, and the show that followed featured any number of gems: an embroidered dog-warmer suit as accessory, modeled by a real canine, a royal blue mousseline cocktail dress overlaid with suede jigsaw cutouts, a cape with the title "We are the world" and featuring the flags of all nations, and a wrapped bouquet of roses that blossomed to form a floral collar. Materials were pleated, layered, deconstructed, sprinkled with sequins, dripped with feathers, draped and ornamented with swirls of love beads.

In the end, the most memorable sight of all was the look of enthusiasm of the 44 graduates impatient to enter a world full of challenge. If the clouds of war, recession, epidemic and corporate downsizing have recently overshadowed the luxury apparel industry, you would never guess it from the brightness on the faces of these designers of tomorrow.

The torch has been passed, and that light shines for all who take the time to bolster young talent forward.