News Coverage:

Paris Fashion - The Week in Review
By: Staff Writer
Photo below: From the Lagerfeld Gallery Spring 2003 collection
Photo by Javier Mateo

PARIS, Oct 15, 2002/ FW/ --- Paris fashion week ended on Friday, and will go down in the record books as one of the strongest showings ever.

The biggest winner of all was the Fédération Française de la Couture, the board which promotes and oversees Paris fashion, for this year not only saw an increase in designers showing in fashion's capital, but stellar shows from many of the world's leading houses.

As for the collections presented, there were big winners and big losers.

Highest honors go to Karl Lagerfeld, who after 20 years at the helm of Chanel presented one of his most energetic and freshest collections yet.

Both his shows for Chanel and Lagerfeld Gallery received across the board accolades from the world's fashion press.

Then there is Valentino, who at a "certain age" (which is said to be 70), not only showed one of his strongest ready-to-wear collection in years, but managed to articulate an anti-war message more forcefully than any Democrat on Capitol Hill.

Jean-Paul Gaultier was also in stride, offering a powerful collection that was remarkable for it's lightness and sensuality.

Alexandre McQueen, Stella MacCartney, Helmut Lang, Hussein Chalayan, Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga, Giambattista Valli for Ungaro, and Laurent Mercier for Balmain rounded out the honors lists.

Of the newcomers to the Paris stage, Jean-Paul Knott scored big with his first collection for Féraud, as did Istvan Francer for Cerutti.

As for the disappointments, they were numerous.

John Galliano's show for Dior offered few new ideas, and quite understandably, received lukewarm reviews.

Even worse, Tom Ford's collection for Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche, replete with a vagina dress and penis pendant, drew sharp criticism.

Cathy Horyn of the NY Times said "This was his least accomplished Saint Laurent collection. Derisively, you could say that if these clothes appeared under the name of a less distinguished house, nobody would pay attention."

And the biggest loser of all would appear to be poor Julien McDonald at Givenchy, whose California swimsuit collection attracted few supporters.

The moment was best captured by Suzy Menkes from the International Herald Tribune: "At Givenchy, Julien MacDonald was even more out of sync with everything going on in fashion. You can't blame MacDonald, who is at least trying his best to give this lame duck LVMH label a buzz."

So, with the close of the Paris shows, the fashion year also comes to an end.

Good or bad, winner or loser: there is always next season.