Fashion: Queens but no Madonna

PARIS fashion fortnight means show, show, show, party, party, party. The Independent fashion team split into two groups, one responsible for early-morning duties (which meant having to catch the 6.30am plane from London to see a radical Japanese collection by Junya Watanabe), the other responsible for late- night fashion fests.

The first of these was the bash thrown by i-D magazine. Then Naomi Campbell threw a party, yet another to promote her album Babywoman, where barmen in drag refused to serve women (with the exception of Naomi and her supermodel chums).

The British designer John Rocha threw a gentle soiree. Then the Irish knitwear designer Lainey Keogh celebrated with Marianne Faithfull - which proved more pleasurable than the party for another chanteuse, Madonna, where the icon herself had departed long before many of the guests arrived.

Valentino gave a supper followed by a party. That was great news for the late night pack, as they were able to trall through the buffet left by the Ladies-who-don't-Lunch (or indeed eat supper, either) before mingling with socialites and drag queens - de rigueur at any Paris party now.

By the end of the fortnight, those on party duty were pleading to swap hot addresses of secret late-night venues for tickets to Jacques Fath and Givenchy.