PARIS, Jan 22, 2003/ FW/ --- The fashion moment this Couture season should have belonged to Laurent Mercier at Balmain. It was his first show for the House since having taken over from Oscar de la Renta, and up until Monday, things were going well.

Then John Galliano upstaged, even Himself, by putting on a spectacle of self-indulgence for Dior that would have made the Emperor Nero blush. The press had barely stopped scratching their collective heads over the ill timing of that display, when sources close to Bernard Arnault, President of LVMH, admitted that the other big story (the probable ousting of Julien McDonald from Givenchy) was under open discussion.

So much for being headline news. But that turn of events just might have held a silver lining for the House of Balmain.

One of the biggest problems for Mercier was living up to expectations, when the expectations had never been clearly defined.

Was this first collection to be a continuation à la Renta, or was it to be launching party for a new luxury liner?

Was it to be a creative display of ingenuity, or a pledge of fidelity towards the image of the House?

In the end, it seems that Laurent Mercier wasn't sure either, and the result was a collection that seemed strangely timid for a designer with so much talent.

The show was entitled "Masked Ball", but the mask never really came off.

The presentation opened with a series of ruffled outfits that never quite made it, and then just when things looked bleak, along came a perfectly stunning hooded evening dress of chiffon mousseline decorated with gold brocade.

The color scheme was heavily pink, fuchsia and lavender, with one rather exotic number of florescent fuchsia plumes worn with a two-tone chartreuse skirt looking like it came right off Rodeo Drive.

There were other exquisite pieces: beige cargo pants worn with a pink sash, dresses floating in diaphanous chiffon, a featherweight wedding dress that fluttered down the runway.

Mr. Mercier works largely with solid colors, and the result is a couture look that is rather classic, though not old-fashioned.

In the end, the new Artistic Director raised more questions than he answered.

The only thing certain is that he's a talented couturier. The rest of the story will have to wait until next season, when hopefully, Laurent Mercier will take his own mask off.