Pyjama parties

It has been dubbed "doing a Julia", a reference to Robert Altman's otherwise dull movie Prt Porter.

In the movie, the rookie reporter Julia Roberts spends her whole time in a hotel suite (much of it in bed with with Tim Robbins) gleaning any fashion information she can from the TV.

Now smart journalists are gathering in hotel suites in their pyjamas, not for the purposes of sex but for live cable-TV fashion coverage. This means they don't have to push, shove be trodden on and return from late- night shows long after it is possible to get any dinner. Instead, the code of conduct is whoever has the biggest suite plays host (which means making fast friends with the reporters from the richest tabloid newspapers), visitors pick up sandwiches from Marks & Spencer in rue de Rivoli and the flash turn up with champagne. Suddenly, spare tickets for Mugler, Gaultier and Galliano have been much less sought after among fashion insiders.