PARIS: Party dresses and shoes," chorused the Delal sisters, Alice and Charlotte, two of the sweet young things who had come with their yummy mummies to Giambattista Valli s show. The front row included the Hollywood hottie Jessica Biel; that stylish socialite Tatiana Santo Domingo; Mary Charteris, an art student, who was chaperoned by her glamorous aunt, Daphne Niarchos; and Coco Brandolini, daughter of the gorgeous Georgina.
And there was, indeed, something for everyone including the talent spotters who might (or might not) be looking for a designer to pick up the Valentino flame.

For a relatively young designer, Valli s proposed wardrobe was both exceptionally polished and a little lacking in risk. He seemed to have channeled Yves Saint Laurent in the deep-crown felt hats with the early tailored outfits. (They also had YSL signature heart necklaces, but with added skulls).

The young crowd looked doubtful about the full coats that they will love, love, love when they are starting a family. The shoes on a high platform with a sexy curved heel were an instant hit. Their gym-honed mothers sighed over perfectly cut black pants suit and a sexily severe black coat (but hold the monkey fur decoration.

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In tune with current fashion, everything was loosened up from the time when Valli s collections looked like he was dressing the 1960s stars of the Cinecitt from his native Rome.
And by the time those party frocks came out, with their whipped-up ruffles and neck yokes with jeweled embroidery (after all, most of these rich kids haven t had their 18th birthday jewel gifts yet), there was a feeding frenzy in the front row.
If there was not much for a simple working gal to wear well, dressing the luxe crowd may be a tough job but someone has to do it.

While Milan is often accused of working the trends, the Paris shows are so diverse that it looks like each fashion designer is in MySpace.frock each with a mini universe.
Haider Ackermann was chalk and cheese to Valli in his mix of monkish austerity and street energy.

The designer said his inspiration was a dream of visiting Tibet on a motorcycle.
But there was nothing of the down and dirty or of the ethnic trail in this strong collection.
It was both ascetic and aesthetic in its play on drapes: a wrap collar, a vest twisted and tied across the torso, the folds of a stretched neckline on an ankle-length dress in deepest purple or the loops of liquid folds in a shining short dress.

Ackermann s mix included knits wrapped across the body like Tibetan shawls, worn with leather pants or shiny vinyl leggings. The biker jackets may have had the usual heavy metal. But as trousers soft at the thighs narrowing to a wrinkled ankle are having a fashion moment, the translation from the heights of Tibet to the height of fashion was seamless.

When your invitation is a Gallic beret, it is a given that the collection will be about French chic. But Michel Klein had a different riff on fashion for uptown girls. He looked back with wit, rather than nostalgia, to the start of the 20th century, when an artist s studio was the fashionable place to be.

With a set consisting of classical nude statues and a dishy artist at his easel, it was not surprising that a model in a scarlet mohair coat laid down seductively on a couch, while others in silken and sparkling 1920s chemises looked like they were hoping to join the life class.
But this Cher Michel Klein show never went too far into theatrics, mixing short sharp black coats, studded leggings, fur- trimmed boots and crinkled artsy dresses as skillfully as those artists chose their palettes.
The return of Martine Sitbon, after a four year hiatus, under the label Rue de Mail, was greeted with warmth from her fashion supporters.

The show opened with a black satin coat, its belt threaded through the cloth. Further shiny tailoring with a satin finish suggested that the designer was looking at a newer tough woman that her former artsy creation.
When a bow was worked with tucks into a skirt, it made a statement for in-built embellishment that was created as tiny ribbed tucks and folds.

Then the artistry started, first with abstract patterns in black sequins, then drawn in black on a white dresses. Black and white was a theme as a white shirt, again with those tiny corrugated tucks, paired a black skirt.