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Jan 24, 2014
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Paris haute couture season ends with Hollywood-style glam

By
AFP
Published
Jan 24, 2014

PARIS, France - Belgian designer Serkan Cura ignited the catwalk on Thursday, marrying Hollywood's golden era with Gaultier-style oomph as Paris fashion week's haute couture shows drew to an end.

The Turkish-born Cura, who trained in the atelier of Jean Paul Gaultier, liberally used feathers, tiny bustiers and nude-coloured corsets but maintained a sexy silhouette with pinched waists often the order of the day.

Serkan Cura finale | Source: PixelFormula

Classic numbers included gowns in black and white festooned with feathers and trim, reminiscent of the days of Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth - a bow to unabashed feminity but with a touch-me-not feel.

A black peekaboo gown ended from the waist downwards in feathers with a split skirt but the repertoire also ran to catsuits with a modern deconstructed twist.

Contemporary trends also featured with sizzling bustiers - perhaps a nod to Gaultier? - and a micro mini dress in silver reminiscent of Paco Rabanne's metal dresses that were emblematic of the Swinging Sixties.

A highlight of the current season was Chanel's airy look for the Spring-Summer 2014 collection with models sporting tennis shoes and pastel shades.

But no ordinary tennis shoes would do for head designer Karl Lagerfeld, who commissioned bootmaker Massaro, a century-old fashion house responsible for creating the iconic black-and-beige shoe synonymous with Chanel.

"It has to be light otherwise couture's image will be dated," Lagerfeld told reporters after the show on Tuesday.

Serge Carreira, a professor at Paris's famed Sciences-Po university and an expert on the luxury industry, said "romanticism and lightness were the keywords of this season".

Carreira said this was accompanied "by a certain sobriety with just a hint of subtle exoticism with the hats of Schiaparelli, Gaultier's butterflies and the African motifs of Valentino."

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