NEW YORK, Feb 4, 2004/ FW/ --- With the Fall 2004 season now in full swing, runway trends show that Swarovski crystals continues to be the choice of top fashion designers when they want to create old world glamour with a contemporary twist for today’s modern woman.

New interpretations of haute couture embroidery and appliqués from today’s innovative designers continue the tradition of artistic craftsmanship of the most brilliant couturiers such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Coco Chanel, who incorporated Swarovski crystal to make women sparkle and look glamorous.

This season, designs from Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam, Sebastian Pons, Ruffian, Viktor & Rolf, Collette Dinnigan, and Jonathan Saunders feature Swarovski crystals.

Proenza Schouler - "We've been playing with the idea of baroque but done subversively. It started when we saw the French crown jewels in the Louvre - they were just so rich and opulent without being tacky. Then we looked at old Versace and the crazy embellishment Christian LaCroix used to do in the early eighties. We were also looking at matadors and wanted to do a jacket with its surface completely encrusted in Swarovski crystal of all sizes - not color but silver, blacks, gunmetals."

Derek Lam - "I wanted to use Swarovski crystal like jewelry on clothing to give a really opulent dimension to my collection... I chose antique looking, very pale pink, gray, amber, and smoked topaz crystal to appliqué to floral, multicolored jacquards and trace borders on a Pacha coat. It's about decorating and layering and a real feeling for richness."

Sebastian Pons - "I've taken Swarovski gold chain mail with inserted crystals and chandlery heart shaped crystal pendants and used them in a thirties hip silhouette. The chain mail worked perfectly because my collection is partly inspired by explorers and conquerors of the past, and the material fit so well on the body. I chose the heart because the collection is based on a love story."

Ruffian - "If Elsa Schiaparelli had an illegitimate son with Jean Cocteau... we're interested in exploring Surrealism but along the lines and elegance of Yves Saint Laurent. We hand applied Swarovski crystal components to our signature collars, using small, flat mirrors, pearls, and sage stones. It's a very artisanal, couture approach to luxury. Our favorite piece, 'The Mirror', embodies the collection - a high Edwardian collared capelet smothered in minute tiles of Swarovski crystal."

Viktor & Rolf - "Last season our show was about and aimed at Hollywood stars. This season it's really about the stars - stars and the night, stars that give light. Stars really meant crystal to us. We used Swarovski crystal beads and transfers in quite dark, reflective greens, blacks, and colorless effects. We like Swarovski because of its jewelry aspect. We first used it in our Russian Doll couture collection in July of 1999. It really makes a garment feel precious and unique."

Collette Dinnigan - " I've used Swarovski crystal components this season in a way that looks like jewelry. It's kind of thirties' aristocratic but slightly bohemian too. We've beaded carmel, amber, and silver crystals to look like jewelry, brooches, and belts, as a surprise within the clothes."

Jonathan Saunders - "For fall using Swarovski's hot fix product has been an amazing way of bringing a dimension to my print, a fresh way of moving on the foiling I did last summer. For this collection I wanted something softer, more painterly. I'd been looking at the work of the French artist Touliere, a tapestry weaver who was working from the 1940s to the 1970s. It became an homage to pop and fine art references. I've used warm, fiery rusts and ochres and, in unison with the colors, the shiny Swarovski effect contrasted with matte on cashmere knit has been so great for what I am doing."