PARIS, Mar 6, 2005/ FW/ --- Waking up to the sound of church bells (our hotel’s neighbour is a Catholic church), made me look at the calendar and realize that today was a Sunday.

Having been raised Catholic, I automatically knew that the ringing of the bells was the signal for the morning mass. Though I knew that my mother would have been horrified that I was not going to attend services today, my first instinct was not guilt.

Rather, it was, “Gosh, this is the second to the last day of the shows, and a very busy one too!”

The official calendar listed Jean-Louis Scherrer, Valentino, Collette Dinnigan, Guy Laroche, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent, for the must-see, while Yuki Torri, Christian Wijnants and John Ribbe complete the roster for emerging designers.

No matter how you look at it, it’s a hectic day! In fact, the Fall 2005 season is not just hectic, it was frantic!

Starting January 15, when the Milan Menswear Show kicked off, it had been non-stop. The only breaks were travelling time to cross the Atlantic on those 10-hour plane rides. How’s that for relaxation!

So, days became weeks, and weeks became months. February flew by… all I remember now was the beginning and that it is almost ending.

Needless to say, Sundays was just another work day and religious or not, there had been no observance of the Sabbath.

That is, until Stefano Pilati at Yves Saint Laurent decided to show on a Sunday with a religious theme for his collection.

And my mother would have been proud as I recognized the ecclesiastical buttons and communion lace, the cardinal garbs and altar boy gowns, even the church choir togas.

That was when I realized that although I have left traditional religion a long time ago, spirituality had stayed with me. The church might not even consider this a small miracle, yet it’s the fashion world that reminded me of who and what I am.