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However, at Torrente things are different, very different. There are no assistants running around, searching desperately for the last minute details or accessories. No artistic directors or press attaches screaming at the top of their lungs, while chain-smoking cases of cigarettes like at numerous other Paris houses. Only serenity and organisation reign at this couture house.

Why is this? Well, the most difficult aspects of the collection are finished. The patterns have been perfected, the embroideries have all arrived, the music has been selected and the major fittings have all taken place. Things are so well mapped-out, that I was even able to spy out a couple of pieces from the next October ready-to-wear collection.

In sharp contrast to the very theatrical production staged by the house for its January 2004 presentation, this collection will be presented in the salons of Torrente, very much in the old school way of Mr. Dior in the 1950s, when haute couture was at its full apogee.

“This collection is a lot more intimate, like a secret”, says Torrente couturier, Julien Fournié.

This dose of tradition will allow the journalists and most importantly the clientele to be able to see from a short distance the work and the savoir-faire of the Torrente atelier. Fournié and the team at Torrente appear more than ready for this rare moment.

Fournié went on to say, “Couture is an image as well as creativity and a laboratory where fashion begins. An haute couture house must be at the source of cultural movements and creative thinking”.

This philosophy can come as no surprise as inspirations for this collection come from works of English literature. Henry James’ Lady Chatterley (or Portrait of a Lady) will automatically come to mind when seeing the embellished, high collars or detailed sleeves from the collection. These two elements are the most dominate codes to watch for in this collection.

The colors are chocolate, bronze, black, gold and some well placed hints of red. The fabrics include silk organza, silk chiffon, silk crepe, taffeta, wool-silk blends and ostrich skins.

Jean-Paul Cauvin boasts of the collection, “Julien has gone further in his research on structure for this collection. It is more coherent.”

Always one to share the spotlight, Fournié, says that the collection is dedicated to the couture atelier at Torrente, “without whose expertise (in his own words)” his extraordinary collections could not take form.

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