Front Row at Christian Dior show

PARIS, Jul 9, 2002/ --- "They were throwing my girls around out there. It was like a manifestation," lamented Tara Subkoff after some beefy heavies muscled the models around at her latest Imitation of Christ fashion performance, staged at the entrance to the Christian Dior runway show in Paris Monday.

So much for the vaunted security prowess of LVMH, the French conglomerate that controls Dior.

Then again, they had not dealt before with the ingenuity of Imitation of Christ and its hip French co-producer Links, which craftily used three ambulances as chic Trojan Horses to break into Dior's fashion fortress inside the Auteuil racetrack.

Pandemonium broke out as Imitation's models kept dancing around in front of the chauffeur-driven Mercedes or staging the occasional sit down, as camera crews and cinema verite filmmakers recorded the happening.

The reactions were mixed: while half the guests applauded, amused by the wacky proceedings, many reacted with Gallic hauteur, sniffed and trotted into the Dior tent.

"Dior is the most historic couture house, no matter who is the designer. Our creations are grunge couture and we just wanted fun," added Tara.

The Imitation collection itself was a wonderfully odd melange of sampled gowns, chiffon dresses, drum majorette accoutrements and sequined tops.

It was weird yet warm, and even featured a modeling family starring the lovely Melissa Melcoure, her daughter Anissa and son Akram.

"What we are doing is very much in the spirit of couture," argued Subkoff.

"Haute couture was born in the Depression when people took their old clothes and remade them to stay in fashion. Myself and our co-operative take discarded, unwanted clothes and hand-stitch the new ideas together ourselves."

After getting the fashion goods at the official event into a real sweat, the show ended with a stretch ambulance pulling up swiftly and a model dramatically swooning onto to a stretcher.

"It's just fashion, for god's sake. It's not meant to be too serious," laughed Subkoff.

"The way some people reacted you'd think someone was undergoing open heart surgery inside that tent."

John Galliano & Donna Karan at the Christian Dior show Karen Mulder & Helena Christensen at the Christian Dior show

Alice Evans at the Christian Dior show Clotilde Coreau at the Christian Dior show Gwen Stefani & Donna Karan at the Christian Dior show