Juozas Statkevicius Haute Couture Fall 2002
Photos by Javier Mateo
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Paris, Jul 9, 2002/ FW/ --- Juozas Statkevicius is admittedly a name few might recognize outside of his native Lithuania.

His entrance into the world of Parisian Haute Couture came, rather auspiciously, in the Concorde Room of the Hotel Intercontinental, where the breeze of air conditioning, and the sight of bottles of Moët Chandon Brut Impérial sitting on ice beckoned.

Juozas is a young, talented designer, who has already captured the attention of some celebrated names, among them, the house of LVMH, Monsieur Jean-Jacques Picart, and if the front row seating assignment proved accurate, several descendants of the House of Romanoff.

His modest, though impressive show was organized around images of dangerous ladies, beautiful, young and audacious.

It was a tribute to those female villains, who are guilty of crime and living in their own shadows.

To make the point, the models were made up to look as if blood dripped from their mouths, eyes and ears, and at times appeared as if they had gotten to close to an Eastern European vampire.

The collection, itself, included such pieces as a bloody countess ball gown in black organdie embroidered with white funeral flowers, a poisoned divorce dress in silk dark blue chameleon taffetas worn with cigarette pants, and even a wedding dress of snow white silk crepe smeared with blood spots.

There was certainly no lack of imagination employed in the creative process, and the result was a strong collection aimed, according to program notes, at the turn of the millennium woman of high taste, yet odd manners.

Hopefully, there will be enough women fitting that profile to keep this talented designer busy for some time to come.