Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017

Models present creations for Valentino during the 2017 spring/summer Haute Couture collection in Paris . — AP/AFP photos Valentino designer in solo couture debut; Gaultier goes acid ll eyes in Paris were on the debut solo couture display from bright red - were deceptively simple. Subtle, complex twists included Valentino designer Pierpaolo Piccioli following the move of Piccioli's use of sections of penumbra tulle, or slashed shoulders. It Ahis design partner to Dior. And if the rousing applause was was sensual, as opposed to sexual - and all the more powerful for it. any indication, his sublime styles of ethereal goddesses were a hit for The soundtrack by Hollywood movie composer Alexandre Desplat the guests that included Kristin Scott Thomas, "La Vie en Rose" added to the dramatic aura of the 59 looks and left the audience visi- actress Clotilde Courau and fashion maestro Valentino Garavani him- bly moved. self. Here are the highlights Wednesday of the spring-summer 2017 collections. Art meets couture in Paris As if the couture designs and the sparkling chandeliers at the Valentino's Grecian goddesses Hotel Salomon de Rothschild weren't quite enough, Valentino also An unstructured, almost ethereal air entered the room as Piccioli's treated its guests to a contemporary art show Wednesday. Hanging highly-anticipated couture show began. As the first look floated by in on the walls of the lavish 19th century Paris manor house were huge billowing floor-length ivory crepe entitled "Euridice" - after the Greek canvasses of figurative and abstract art. The private Tiroche DeLeon nymph - it was clear this show would be a study in divine proportions. Collection featured international works by Chinese artists Liu Wei and It was the simplicity, and almost the fragility, of the gowns that made Zhang Huan. It also had a huge mixed media work called this collection sing. Overly long lengths of chiffon, crepe and silk jer- "Unstoppable" that resembled disintegrating fabric by Indonesian sey used in the skirts elongated and narrowed the models' bodies. artist Gatot Pujiarto. Fashion insiders were snapping their cameras at But the classical styles - in muted tones with provocative flashes of the walls as well as the clothes.

Models present creations by Jean Paul Gaultier.