FASHION CRITICS WONDER IF FASHION IS A THING OF THE PAST

It seems that fashion sanity is driving the fashion press insane. According to members of the press there were no fireworks on the runway, just sensible clothing. This may have something to do with economics or it might be that women no longer want clothing that is impractical (but I doubt it).

To spark things up at the Chanel show in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld models wore pills of all shapes and sizes down the fronts of their black chiffon mini-dresses. Pills were also strung along the gold chain handles of the quilted bags.

We hear there was a futuristic mood on the runways - silver-streaked trapeze dresses at Fendi, plastic corsets at Dolce & Gabbana and gold-colored robot leggings at Balenciaga.

Hussein Chalayan went high tech with remote-controlled dresses - that shifted from long to short. Hemlines were so short they made the 60’s mini skirt look Victorian.

"Fashion is now about marketing and merchandising," said Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent's business partner. "It is not about designer fashion. It is about mass-market retailers like Zara.” Call it what you want, but the bottom line has outdone the hemline.

The pressure to conform to the corporate culture is weighing down the frivolousness of fashion. In Galliano's show for Dior, tweed suits and simple chiffon evening dresses in gray and pink replaced his usual outrageousness.