McCartney shines in homage to City of Light

STELLA McCartney is a quintessentially British designer, but yesterday she paid homage to her adoptive Paris with tailored coats and feminine corsets inspired by the great tradition of French haute couture.

London scenesters including Marianne Faithfull, Kate Moss and her boyfriend Jefferson Hack, gathered at an Art Deco pavilion opposite the Eiffel Tower for the display on the fifth day of the Paris autumn-winter ready-to-wear collections. If the front row represented Cool Britannia, the clothes were inspired by the City of Light.

A wine-coloured wool belted trenchcoat with batwing sleeves flared out into deep folds that recalled the New Look launched by Christian Dior after World War Two, when the end of rationing meant designers could once more use reams of fabric.

Meanwhile, a beige high-collared swingcoat was trimmed with pink grosgrain ribbon, a favourite technique of Jacques Fath. The same ribbon trim appeared on a dove grey satin bustier layered with panels of frayed chiffon and paired with a heather wool pencil skirt with a pleated split in the back.

McCartney knows her technique inside out, thanks to a rigorous training on Saville Row, the London area famous for hand-tailored suits.

She carried through that expertise to intricate knitwear, which included a poloneck woven from ribbed panels structured like the sections of a corset.

Even a cropped burgundy bomber jacket in padded nylon and mesh was dressed up with a champagne silk skirt. The daughter of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has built her reputation on sleek outfits with a rock chick edge, first at the French house of Chloe and now with her own label, which belongs to the Italian luxury group Gucci.

Fans like Hollywood stars Liv Tyler and Kate Hudson will be snapping up the satin evening dresses embroidered with rows of see-through crystals, or the hot pink satin bustier with its matching skintight pencil skirt. “There were some pieces in there that really took my breath away. The pieces with the jewels I thought were really daring and fun,” said British actress Thandie Newton.

Newton, who starred alongside Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible II”, said it was her first time at a fashion show, but she rapidly grasped how the industry ticks. “I can see her personality in the clothes because I know her. That’s really key as well. I think designers have to have amazing charisma because they use that,” she said. “People want their clothes to reveal something about their personality so you buy the designer whose personality you identify with or admire, and you want some of that”.