PARIS, Feb 27, 2006/ FW/ --- Gaspard Yurkievich is apparantly a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde designer in that he is capable of sending out collections which bear no ostensible relation to each other.

Having presented a vision for next winter’s menswear which was conceptual to the point of risking to put the concept before the client, what he gave us for women was, if not overtly sales orientated, certainly more safe than avant-garde.

Not that this was any bad thing though as the collection was modern and sometimes a little edgy but remained more or less wearable throughout.

There were hints that these were, after all, two shows from the same fertile imagination however and not just in the use of fabrics carried over from menswear: gold lamé with black foliage motifs or white polka dots on gray jersey for example.

This was witnessed early in the show with a pair of black trousers which were fitted at both the hips and, to a lesser extent, the ankles, but which billowed in between with graduated side pleats permitting the feat.

This was an idea which also had a masculine precedent but here it was sophisticated and urban with its toned down volume and never approached the same slapstick, pantaloon proportions.

Sophistication in fact might have been the key word for Yurkievich this season with his little black dresses, tailored suit jackets and swept back hairstyles.

The first exit set the tone with a delicate pleated A-line skirt in a glossy black which finished at the lower thigh and covered black stockings with a gold lattice pattern. This combination was continued with the broad intertwined strands of gold and black which traced the curved neckline of the fitted top, and in the gold lace work which applied relief to the waist.

Elsewhere jackets may have been asymmetric and slightly unconventional in the cut of, say, the lapels, but the emphasis remained on marketable silhouettes.

Even elements that the designer had tried before with questionable results seemed to come off for him this time around. A case in point being a sheath of black lace that enveloped micro shorts; even when combined with a transparent tulle shirt, this look managed to stay on the sexy side of vulgar.

Alice bands all around, girly tights and vertiginous high heels: it’s not that the collection was overtly commercial, but Yurkievich has just for once shown that he really might have been born in Paris after all.