Designer Stella sizzles like a hot summer day

STELLA McCartney showed she’s coming along as a starring new designer, giving Paris a summer ready-to-wear show that was as fresh and sweet as a summer's day.

There were plenty of leggy looks at McCartney's show, held in Paris' handsome neoclassical old stock exchange. Short shorts were matched with tank tops, and mini skirts in shades of light grey were paired with floaty lace-edged tops.

Her fabric ideas for all the short clothes showed sophistication, with burnt silk voiles layered on chiffon, and twisted, layered light silks not as complicated as they sound.

Fun for evening were some sequined off-shoulder tops and jeans combined with dressy fringed silvery knit blouses. And that was just some of the fun that McCartney had with glitter.

Pink silk fringes on white tops, or gold down the back of lean white pants looked just perfect. Multiple tiny chains hanging like necklaces down dresses gave a nice flapper touch.

Overall, the effect of her off-shoulder looks and shorts in whites, light grays and blues was subtle, romantic and tasteful.

At her first show under her own label this time last year, McCartney was reproached for her over-revealing clothes. McCartney, who has backing from the Gucci group, left Chloe to start her own line.

Paco Rabanne's chief designer, Rosemary Rodriguez, now in charge of ready-to-wear, has taken a few pages out of the Spanish-born couturier's book and took a bow with him.

Rodriguez has seized the mirror-images and sparkling metallic looks of Rabanne, who started it all in the '60s.

And she did it very well, starting with mirror sequins on a flesh-coloured chiffon mini-dress. This is a collection for those who like to flash and sparkle. Some of the great sparkling looks came in tiny swimsuits or two-piece bikinis studded with silver nail heads including crocheted white suits.

Sporty looks were attractive, too, in cafe au lait and dark brown leather shorts outfits with turned-up sleeves on the blouses, or skirt suits. In the softer, romantic vein, Rodriguez offered spicy yellow or orange long or short silk dresses with an oriental touch in flowing kimono sleeves and an occasional obi sash.

But it was the mirror sequins and the gold-baubled bodice on a mini that struck the sympathetic chord for old fans of Rabanne, the man who can do glitz with fun, but without vulgarity. Balmain styles were luxurious, with credits to the 1950s in slim suits and dresses, and wide picture hats.

French designer Laurent Mercier is now the Balmain ready-to-wear guru, since Oscar de la Renta left both haute couture and ready-to-wear at the famous old house.