PARIS COUTURE SHOWS: HI-LITES SO FAR

paris - first, a warm thank you to style.com for these photos. don't know whose on the camera for the website, but honestly, brilliant work. as you know, the couture shows in paris are in full swing. they wrap up tomorrow (and as i type mr. valentino is getting ready to show/is showing his last collection ever). what's been shown so far is simply amazing. my words could never be colorful enough to rival them, but i had to try. feast your eyes on the clothes and my commentary below. they are just a sample of what was shown. log on to style.com for the full collections and reviews.



DIOR - how does galliano and his team do it? after pulling off what i thought was a vividly original and daring menswear collection for his own namesake line, the designer turned around and featured a couture collection that was really beyond imagination. ( i mean really. only lsd and acid could manufacture trippy dresses like that.) i absolutely loved it. womenswear is always a very feminine affair. but these candy like confections really did take the cake.

GIVENCHY - I wasn't going to comment on the givenchy collection. i found the clothes nice - and that was about it. but then i saw this dress an understandably - i fell in love. haven't you? it's far and away my favorite piece from their collection.

CHANEL - it gets no more classic - yet modern - than the chanel couture collection. what can i say? i loved it. it was pared down and minimal yet at once grandiose and extravagant much like karl lagerfeld, the master mind behind the collection. i am curious to see how celebs will rework these pieces for the runway.

ARMANI PRIVE - this is not a line that usually moves me. but then again, this collection was unusually moving - at least as far as i'm concerned. brilliant colors, sexy silhouettes, and flirty flounces are just a few of the details that combined into a dazzling collection. i really could go on, but i think i'll let the pictures speak for themselves.