Unexpected haute couture trends: skeletons, fringed clothes, and cowboy boots

(AFP PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY)

Apart from sale fluctuations, designers often insist there are no trends in haute couture (if you were wondering: sales were up this year for houses like Chanel, but leading fashion journalist Cathy Horyn says couture is " slipping off people's radar faster than a UFO"). However, there were at least three things that were strikingly recurrent this season.

The Cut's Amy Odell noted the trend of "hairy fringe," for instance, which popped up at Dior, Givenchy, and Jean-Paul Gaultier. But designers' didn't just settle for traditional fringes, feathers, and the like, but for an even finer material that resembles human hair, according to Horyn.

This was in tune with the label's creative director, Riccardo Tisci's rather 'morbid' inspiration (a general trend that could already be observed at the men's shows), with many of his dresses looking like embellished skeletons. Respected fashion blog Fashionising writes: "Pay careful attention: a motif of bones trickles through the collection in skeletal shapes. We've no doubt this work of Tisci's will bring the theme of subtle Gothic undertones back into strong influence."

On a slightly more upbeat note: could the fact that two big names in couture - Chanel and Maison Martin Margiela - integrated cowboy boots into their outfits mean that they are made for walking once again? Trend site Polyvore certainly thinks so.

But the most striking 'accessory' remained the hair: from Dior to Gaultier and Valentino, stylists went for (sometimes grotesquely) towering hair that completed designers' extravagant silhouettes.