Paris haute couture opens to high theatrics, high glam

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — Paris haute couture week kicked off in star-studded, dramatic style, with John Galliano's theatrical vision of the Renaissance for Christian Dior and plenty of high-glam sheen at Valentino.

With A-list Hollywood stars Liv Tyler, Drew Barrymore and Mischa Barton, as well as US singer Cher, making for a glamorous Dior front-row, the flamboyant British designer again dipped, in his inimitable way, into a bygone age.

And he came up with a series of medieval-inspired threatrical tableaux for autumn-winter 2006-07 verging at times on a costume drama, but he also captured a spirit of other-worldliness.

He chose a genteel Tuscan garden as his backdrop, zapping to different musical styles for each new episode, with themes that brought to mind mermaids,...