No one needs a suit looped from 1,000 meters of multicolored ribbons. But from the most extravagant chinoiserie through tooled-leather belts, McQueen gave the Givenchy atelier a workout that did couture proud. Valentino's handwork is a byword for European refinement. But this season he hid all the fancy work on the inside. Wandering through an enchanted garden in her rose-pink dress, Titania plucked petals from the gravel path and scattered them on her cobweb shawl.
Conventional couturiers have to learn to lighten up.
And Ungaro's clothes have never looked so ethereal as on the tousle-haired models with their berry bracelets and earrings. Sure, the work on even a little-nothing bodice was fancy. But the dense detail was as light as thistledown. The sweetness and light applied as much to cardigan jackets with wide pants as to skirts fluttering like butterfly wings, and to the bride, peeping from behind a bouquet of meadow flowers. Versace is a byword for sexy glamour done in a modern way.