A golden hello again from Dior

Christian Dior made a welcome comeback at the Paris spring/summer haute couture collections yesterday with sharp tailoring and elegant evening dresses.

Gianfranco Ferre turned back to the Forties and Fifties, the golden age of Dior, and presented pencil dresses with matching jackets - a look that will be strong this summer.

There were neat coat dresses and swingy trapeze coats while curvy jackets revealed tightly-belted bodices underneath. Colours ranged from creamy white to black, acid yellow, fuchsia pink and turquoise.

On Sunday night, Valentino's show featured champagne and oyster satins and fiery reds, but with less glitter than usual. Slinky evening dresses hugged the body, but looked both sexy and refined.

Jean-Louis Scherrer showed the first collection for the house's new designer Bernard Perris. The collection took a nose-dive from long Gestapo coats to a ball gown which featured a mountain of frills under a shiny leather bodice and an overskirt that formed the shape of an inverted triangle. Elegant, this was not.