Fashion Garments

This city has been leading fashion trends pretty much since Louis XIV’s court sent stylish dolls to outposts like Austria and England. This is where the most influential designers tend to show—Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons, Alexander McQueen—even when they live elsewhere. And it’s where the world’s trend analysts seek visions of the future of style, not just for clothing, but for housewares, furniture and all manner of art and consumer goods.

“Designers are always ahead of us. We’re trying to filter it down,” said Isham Sardouk, senior vice president of trend forecasting for Stylesight, a company that tracks and forecasts styles for clients including Adidas, Disney, JC Penney and Skechers. “Designers have the luxury to take a direction and run with it. If it doesn’t work…,” he ran his finger along his throat. “But if it does, you can be like Balmain.” After being revived by investors four years ago, Balmain is hot these days, largely due to designer Christophe Decarnin’s edgy band-style jackets and rock-chick aesthetic.

The rush of the spring Paris collections has just begun, and it’s too early to draw any firm conclusions, but there’s a definite air of modernity and minimalism. That suggests we’ll be seeing more linear looks, 1960s color blocking, tunics and sheaths for several seasons. The revival of looks inspired by the 1980s and 1940s were in evidence in a few places, but for the most part fashion seems to be moving on. It might not be a good time to invest in a power suit.

Below are the highlights of four notable shows that launched fashion week: Balenciaga, Azzaro, Christian Dior and Lanvin.

BALENCIAGA

What walks down Nicolas Ghesquière’s Balenciaga runway is imitated by stores around the globe at virtually every possible price range. So let’s start counting how long it takes for fast-fashion makers to start selling minimalist sheaths with vivid vertical color blocking.

Mr. Ghesquière’s Spring 2010 collection for Balenciaga played with disparate materials. He paired leather with whispery silk chiffon. There was a surprise handbag of jute, or rough burlap. Long skinny pants with a slight biker feel were paired with clean, straight sleeveless blouses.

He also took leather and dyed it a different color on each side, cut it into thin strips and folded it to create skirts with strips sticking out like a porcupine. This probably sounds about as appetizing as my dinner last night—pork in milk with bok choy—but both were delicious. Ditto with the shoes that appeared dyed, but were actually made of vividly colored leather strips mushed together to create a colorful swishy effect.

Backstage after the show, Mr. Ghesquière said he tried to create an entirely modern collection without any references to the past, though keeping with Balenciaga’s strong attention to the feminine form. He added this was partly his attempt to, as the Apple ads once said, “Think Different.” “There are cocktail dresses everywhere,” Mr. Ghesquière said. “I am asking, who are these women who go to cocktails all the time?”

AZZARO

The star of the Vanessa Seward’s Azzaro presentation, in absentia, was Ms. Seward’s cat Monsieur Jo. The feline’s likeness—a long, languid version—was embroidered in silver thread and crystal beads on several white silk mini dresses. On one, Jo’s tail curled lazily around to the back of the dress.

The images were first sketched by Ms. Seward’s friend, artist Florence Deygas (her caricatures are featured in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg’s film “Catch Me If You Can”). Ms. Deygas says she watched Monsieur Joe running and leaping in Ms Seward’s atelier and three renderings later, Jo is immortalized in fashion. In one dress, the cat is attacking from behind a curtain of silk.

Ms. Seward, the designer chosen to revive the house of Azzaro several years ago, is putting more of herself into the line after several seasons of carefully respecting the house’s heritage —long famous in France, lately making its way into the U.S.

ReutersA look from Christian Dior

CHRISTIAN DIOR

The yawning gap between class and sass widened further at Dior’s fashion show today. Christian Dior owner Bernard Arnault’s women—wife Helene and daughter Delphine—sat in the front row, ambassadors for the label’s classic Parisian chic.

Friday’s runway collection was more suited to the bedroom. A pale pink silk dress resembled a negligee. In keeping with catwalk trends of the last month, Dior designer John Galliano sent more models marching out in panties clearly visible through sheer fabrics or peeking out under clothing. There were some more classic pieces, especially jackets. Mr. Galliano kept the nipped waist and flared hips on Mr. Dior’s post-WWII jackets and applied them to short trench coats. And Dior played it very conservative with its bags.

This season’s show was characteristically cinematic—in this case, referencing film noir—with shadows and spotlights, gunshots and girly screams. Nothing in the presentation was toned down to reflect the more sober post-recession fashion industry. “We’re full of optimism for 2010,” said Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano backstage, escorting Bruce Willis and Rihanna to their getaway cars. “Fashion must bring freshness, color and quality.”

LANVIN

Lanvin was a party. Guests, greeted with fruity mixed drinks and tiny pastries passed around by waiters, skittered around in platform shoes so large it caused them to storm like elephants down the center aisle.

Aside from this slightly comical scene, the show, held in a warehouse a few blocks from the Seine River, was all about fun and elegance. Necklines plunged. Skirts skimmed thighs. There was only a hint of the 80’s in some poofy shoulders and pleated pants that nipped at the ankles.

The show began with a certain mature strictness—a nipped waist dress with a large ruffle off the shoulder makes an entrance in a room. Gradually, the looks softened until the dresses were of a washed silk, still slightly wrinkled as though they had been pulled from the dryer.

A highlight was a beige slip of a dress wrapped in transparent red silk like a gift. Another was a jacket of a material that was pleated in the shape of quilting.

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