Galliano doffs hat to British heritage

John Galliano referenced his British heritage by showing giant bearskin guardsmen-style hats made of black feathers, teamed with red short suits, as Paris Fashion Week drew to a close.

Miniskirts and dresses – which have emerged as a big trend for spring/summer 2009 – came in fluid silk and sheer versions with rings of ruffles, while bright orange, aqua, bubblegum pink, apple green and lilac provided the main colours.

And while many of Louis Vuitton's super-rich customers will not be affected by the economic downturn, even the ones that are will find it hard not to dip into their monogrammed wallets for a piece from Marc Jacobs' latest collection for the label, shown yesterday.

Throughout the round of international shows, which came to a close yesterday, many brands have responded to the financial gloom with flights of escapism and Jacobs' show was one of the most uplifting, not to mention downright desirable, yet. With Edith Piaf on the soundtrack, the collection conjured up the spirit of the Parisian showgirl in the late 1920s, although this being Jacobs, it was fused with a number of eclectic influences, from Japanese traditional dress to African tribal touches, creating a new aesthetic.

Models emerged from giant, backlit sticks of bamboo wearing a concise and consistent set of shapes that merged the flirtatious and the fluid with the structured – miniskirts and tuxedo jackets; high-waisted, wide-legged trousers worn with fitted, slightly military jackets, and the shortest of dresses.

Silk minis came in maroon with crescent-shaped panels of sheer polka dot fabric, sometimes studded with miniature crystals in designs reminiscent of 1920s and 1930s art-deco jewellery. These were worn with tuxedo jackets fastened with obi belts in copper and burgundy leather.

Jacobs said: "After the clean, sculptural shapes of last season, this was more of an exotic, theatrical, trash and flash, hip-hop version of Josephine Baker and Catherine Deneuve. It's saucy and sophisticated, and evokes different types of French women from the Left Bank to the eighth and the 16th arrondissements."

On Saturday, Hermes fuelled the supermodel revival by listing Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour to wear Jean Paul Gaultier's fringe suede wrap dresses and skirts on a cactus and sand-covered catwalk.

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