Balenciaga

ALL talk before this morning's Balenciaga spring/summer show surrounded not the clothes, but the label's current campaign star - and October Vogue cover girl - Kristen Stewart, who was the eagerly awaited front row guest. And once there, the Twittersphere sprang into action and suddenly it was more a show report about her and what she was wearing that everyone was interested in - she was wearing a yellow biker jacket and printed trousers, for your information. Suddenly every front row fashion editor was in the game for the best Twitter picture. But let's not get distracted - Nicolas Ghesquière knows how to pull it out of the bag when it comes to fashion (sudden interest in intarsia sweaters this season anyone? Yep, that's down to him).
"It was fantastic," said Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman of the collection, which took its cues from all things cropped and began with a white sports-style bra that wrapped around the torso to reach the high waist of the trousers beneath it. We then moved on to Flamenco ruffles on a black and white dress, which put a whole new meaning to the peplum as it circumnavigated the body.
More of these followed, one with fluted sleeves and another underpinned by pink - and then it was time to revisit that first look, this time adding a jacket, and then combining it with all of the above. Ghesquiere is nothing if not a fashion mathematician - his rules and style equations always setting the benchmark for what is to come.
It was subtle and selective in palette - white, beige, eggshell blue and black - but that made for the perfect canvas to show off the collection. The crop tops were super-cropped and made so even more so by the high-waisted trousers (a shape we know so well from Balenciaga), the little skirts that fell into edgy points to make them all at once long and short.
"It was less androgynous and more feminine for him," noted Shulman - something which came by way of those flounces (all beit still with an edge), and the little jacket and skirt suits which had a primness about them too.
Then came a series of dresses whose skirts were pleated, or which appeared to be so with little leaves - and any of which would be perfect red carpet (with an edge) fodder for Stewart. You know she'd wear them with her Vans or Converse.
On the accessories front, attention was being paid to the new bucket bag shape - smaller ones for the evening and larger ones for during the day. And the shoes, little mannish lace-up numbers.
Ghesquière's ideas and talent are far-reaching - of that there's no doubt - he's one of those designers who always influences, and will again do so with this collection.

Carven

Mugler

WHEN super stylist Nicola Formichetti took the creative reins of Mugler in September 2010 (promptly chopping the first name out of the equation and putting his own stamp on it - beating Hedi to the idea), the house had been dancing to an "on again, off again" tune, under the auspices of ex-Paco Rabanne designer Rosemary Rodriguez. But with this creative powerhouse installed, we knew the Paris house would become a fixture and one to watch again.
Two years on and Formichetti’s Midas touch is clear to see. Thierry Mugler was bestowed the high honour of being invited by the Chambre Syndicale to show on the Haute Couture schedule in 1992, and tonight Formichetti demonstrated a respect for the craftsmanship of the house, rather than simply focusing on the headline-grabbing corseted silhouettes of Mugler’s heyday (besides, he has Lady Gaga, who he named Mugler’s in-house music director, for that). Knifes pleats transformed second-skin tailored dresses, allowing flirty flicky movement when the models marched. Leather robe-like jackets that folded over the body - staying put with no fastenings but just the expert cut to keep them in place - in grown-up putty and chestnut will be snapped up by those who loved Mugler the first time around (and no longer manage those sculpted, waist-cinching, cleavage-boosting mini dresses).
Wong Kar Wai’s film In the Mood for Love was referenced, and here came the tougher Formichetti-Mugler we were expecting; a lacquered (varnished lambskin, actually, but you get the Japanese interiors reference), burgundy armoured top had Samurai connotations, as did the vents slashed into the side of a patent-leather mini dress. Black chiffon trousers were worn with mini shorts underneath and belted with taekwondo sashes. Colour was rich and seductive - grape, jade, sunburst orange, toffee, optic white and stone - and texture was at play - hyper-shine met mid-shine met matte. It never felt pastiche, as it could have done given that Formichetti cited the heavily costumed Japanese Noh theatre as an influence. He emerged wearing a T-shirt of two Noh faces kissing, but that was as literal as it got.
There were no stylist gimmicks here; these were properly tailored, carefully constructed, no doubt screamingly expensive clothes. Oh, just one stylist gimmick - get the most controversial music star of the moment (we're looking at you Lady Gaga), to unveil her new track - a dalliance with rap called Cake - at the show itself. And of course his front row was not to be sneezed at; Azealia Banks, with the new Naboo clutch already in hand (Mugler's new handbag line was unveiled tonight on the catwalk), Leigh Lezark, Sky Ferreira. You’ve got to hand it to him, Formichetti knows how to deliver the whole package.