But forget the jacket as half a suit. These were stand-alone pieces, as were the coats, sometimes cut with a fold in the back in an expertly executed nod to the current blanket wrap. They went with narrow pants while the tiny tops partnered wider trousers with a fluff of mohair at the ankle. With two strong collections at Fendi and Chanel in one season, it looks like Lagerfeld has faced off his futuristic visions and decided to use his intellect, experience and his mastery of technique to address what women want and need. Couture' s favorite client patted a bulge in her glove.
Some people have pet rocks of their own.
Where Chanel moved on, John Galliano stood still. And although it is painful to say it, the magic is fading from his shows. For everything, there is a time and a reason. And this is just not the fashion moment to send out tribal blanket coats, gorgeously worked with quivering feathers though they might be - on a creatively chaotic construction site set containing heaps of rubble, shards of glass and hunky hard hat types with muscular knees. It all seemed so overwrought, what with a cartoon African theme bringing zebra boots and grass-skirt fringing, and a model apparently high on Viagra cozying up to her crocodile handbag, when she wasn't stroking her taut knitted suit and ogling the construction workers.