Couture This Week In Paris

Paris  Haute Couture Week kicked off Monday with a bold show from young couturier Alexis Mabille. Although this week is technically a showcase for spring/summer couture, Mabille gave his audience a look at his collection for next fall instead. Emphasizing bold blocks of color, lots of black, and more than one ruffle, the collection had a distinctly eighties feel. The popular designer added a distinctive flourish to the collection by color-blocking the models' hair to compliment their clothes, and occasionally the footwear as well. The chic audience included burlesque superstar Dita von Teese, who wore a little black dress by Mabille for the occasion.

John Galliano acknowledges the audience following the Christian Dior spring-summer 2010 haute couture collection

A model wears a design by Alexis Mabille at the designer's haute couture show today in Paris.

On Tuesday morning, John Galliano sent a parade of Gibson Girls sashaying down the runway for Christian Dior. With wasp waists, bouffant hair, dramatic eyes and gloriously full skirts, the Dior models looked like they had stepped off the set of a very glamorous remake of Meet Me in St. Louis. Galliano couldn't resist the style for himself, and came onstage at the end to accept inevitable praise from the audience in a top hat and tail.

Never failing to disappoint, on Tuesday afternoon Karl Lagerfeld presented his "neon baroque" spring couture collection for Chanel. Toying with the classic Chanel suit, Lagerfeld used plenty of traditional tweed, interlacing the fabric with silvery silks and chiffons, his models' hair done up to match in enormous bouffant bow shapes with intermittent streaks of silver.

This Fashion Week ended on Thursday with dazzling jewelry collections from Chaumet, Bouchern, and Van Cleef & Arpels. 2010 is the first year where jewelry made it into haute couture Fashion Week, and by the amount of sparkle on display, it certainly will not be the last.

For more information on Paris Fashion Week check out Mode à Paris, and follow us on Twitter for more updates on the Haute Couture shows this week on FranceToday.com!

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